Gluten free Simnel Cake

Here’s a rather lovely recipe for a gluten free Simnel cake. Simnel cake is a fruit cake associated with Easter and it’s delicious!

The inspiration for this excellent light fruit cake, with a delightful soft marzipan layer, hidden deep within, came from a reader of my blog, who got in touch to ask me if I had a recipe for Simnel cake? I didn’t at the time, but after having a good old google, I discovered this fab recipe by Cassie Best over on the BBC Good Food website.

As with most cake recipes, this Simnel cake works splendidly when made gluten free. And although there are a few ingredients to weigh out, the method is a nice easy one, and you will be well rewarded with an extremely YUMMY cake, that looks rather special too!

Ingredients

250g *mixed dried fruit
Finely grated zest, and juice of 1 large orange (add 2 tablespoons of water if the orange isn’t very juicy)
500g *marzipan (you’ll need a little icing sugar too, for when you roll out the marzipan)
175g gluten free plain flour
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
250g softened unsalted butter
200g soft brown muscovado sugar
4 large eggs
100g *ground almonds
2 teaspoons *mixed spice
Finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
1 teaspoon *vanilla extract or paste
100g *glace cherries, halved
1 tablespoon of your absolute favourite apricot jam (mine is Bonne Maman – sorry I missed the jam off the picture!)

Additional things you’ll need
Greaseproof paper, brown wrapping paper and string

Method 

Grease and line a 20cm deep round tin. To protect the cake as it bakes, double line the base of the tin.

Put the dried mixed fruit, and the juice and zest of the orange into a pan, and then gently heat until the orange juice has completely evaporated. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool.

Divide the marzipan into three pieces. With clean hands, form one of the pieces into a ball and roll out on a clean sheet of greaseproof paper (that’s been lightly dusted with icing sugar), until it’s slightly smaller in size than the cake tin. Place the piece of rolled out marzipan onto a plate that’s been lightly dusted with icing sugar.

Repeat the process with the second piece of marzipan, but this time cut around a 20cm plate to achieve a neat circle. Divide the final piece of marzipan into 11 equal size pieces and roll each piece into a neat ball. Cover and keep the marzipan topper and balls in a cool place (not the fridge) until you’re ready to decorate the cake.

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2/130C Fan. Adjust the shelves in the oven in readiness to fit the cake in, with it’s rather tall brown paper collar… it will need PLENTY of space!

Sift the gluten free flour, xanthan gum and baking powder into a bowl and blend with a fork. Set aside.

Place the softened butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl, and then using an electric hand whisk, whisk until smooth and creamy.

Add the blended gluten free flour, ground almonds, mixed spice, lemon zest, vanilla extract and eggs and stir with a large spoon to combine.

Add the orange infused soaked fruit and cherries and stir well.

Transfer half the mixture into the prepared tin and and smooth out. Lay the first piece of marzipan you rolled out over the top of the cake mixture.

Spoon over the remaining mixture, gently packing it down with the back of the spoon to prevent any large air pockets, and then smooth out the top.

Wrap a brown paper collar around the outside of the cake tin and secure with string. The paper needs to be at least two layers thick – mine was four!  The collar needs to be double the height of the tin. This extra bit of work protects the cake as it bakes and prevents the fruit from catching.

Bake for 2hrs, or until golden brown and when a skewer is inserted into the centre it comes out clean. My cake was perfectly baked after 2hrs, however yours may take a little longer.

Remove the baked cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes, before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Brush the top of the cake with apricot jam. Give the jam a good mix first, no need to heat and sieve unless it’s particularly thick.

Lay the prepared circle of marzipan on top. Leave the edges plain or crimp with your fingers and thumb.

Dot each marzipan ball with a touch of jam and gently press them onto the marzipan base to secure.

Set the grill to a medium setting. Place the cake on a flat heatproof base and slip it under the grill. Carefully turn the cake as needed to evenly brown the centre of the cake and the top of the marzipan balls. The marzipan will suddenly brown, so don’t wander far from the grill. You could of course use a cooks blowtorch instead to ‘toast’ the marzipan.

And that’s it, the cakes all done, and once cooled after being under the grill, is all good for you to slice and enjoy!

Recipe notes and suggestions 

When stored in an airtight container and in a cool spot (not the fridge), this gluten free Simnel cake will remain absolutely delicious for up to a week.

If you’re after a lovely light fruit cake, but marzipan isn’t your thing, simply leave it out and reduce the baking time. I suggest checking the cake after 1½ hours, and then probably ever five minutes after that.

I’ve seen Simnel cakes decorated with edible flowers rather than the marzipan balls, and they look very pretty. Just another idea to throw your way.

Hope you don’t mind, but on this occasion for accuracy, I’ve only given you metric measurements.

Thanks so much for checking out this gluten free Simnel cake recipe. I do hope you give it a go… please let me know if you do!

Finally, credit and thanks to Cassie Best for the original recipe, which I slightly adapted to make it gluten free.

For now,
Liz x

*Check this product to ensure that there are no gluten containing ingredients, ‘may contain’ or ‘not suitable’ for a coeliac/gluten free diet warnings on the pack.