Flour, Cake and Pastry

Once again, it's been a while hasn't it? Apologies for the lack of posts in the last couple of weeks, life just gets pretty crazy sometimes doesn't it? But here we are, March 2016, and we're halfway already. March brings new life; it's the height of lambing season here in the UK, and as we look towards Easter, most of us are starting to enjoy some nice sunny, Spring weather. Since it's almost Easter, I thought I would share with you some of my favourite-and essential-Easter recipes, you really can't go wrong with an Easter treat. 1) Simnel Cake I love love love any type of fruit cake, and I also love marzipan so this cake is literally heaven for me! Simnel Cake is a fruit sponge, just like Christmas Cake, but the main and vital difference is that Simnel Cake has a layer of marzipan in the centre of the cake, and there's no whit icing, just a circle of marzipan to cover the top which is then topped with 11 marzipan balls, which represent the 11 Disc...

So here we are, pinch, punch, first of the month. Who'd have thought the first two months of the year would have gone so fast? In the Allison household, we are preparing for Easter in the only way we know how, by baking. And what better way to prepare than by making the traditional simnel cake...it's like Christmas all over again, which lets face it, we all would love to have again. Simnel cake is a lighter version of the Christmas fruit cake, with two layers of almond paste or marzipan, one in the centre of the sponge and one on top which is then toasted to leave the marzipan golden brown. In the UK, Ireland and some other European Countries, it is traditionally eaten around the Easter period, and in the medieval period it was often given to mothers as a gift on mothering Sunday. Traditionally, eleven marzipan balls are used to decorate the cake, which represent the twelve apostles, minus Judas. This tradition developed late in the Victorian era, altering the mid Victoria...