To thee I bring a Simnel....

Two recipes for this Mother's Day

I’ll to thee a simnel bring,

'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering :

So that when she blesseth thee,

Half that blessing thou'lt give me.

(Robert Herrick, ‘To Dianeme: A Ceremony in Gloucester’, Hesperides, 1648)

In Shropshire and Herefordshire, and particularly in Shrewsbury, a rich fruit cake enclosed in a saffron coloured crust would be made in mid lent for Mothering Sunday (although they were also made for Easter and Christmas). These cakes would be boiled first before being baked resulting in a crust so ‘hard as if made of wood.’ This afforded the contents some protection from becoming stale too quickly.

Given the expense of the ingredients contained in the Simnel the cakes were available in a variety of sizes. In the nineteenth century prices ranged from a guinea for an extra large cake to half a crown for a smaller cake. Some people receiving Simnels as presents were confused as to their purpose. One lady even mistook hers for a footstool. Like so many cakes the Simnel began life as a type of bread in the Medieval era, gradually picking up spices and currants through the centuries. (You can read more about the history of Simnel cake here including a rather fanciful story about how the name ‘Simnel’ came about)

Simnel Cakes in Chamber’s Book of Days (1888)

The sixteenth century physician Andrew Boorde was resolutely against any ‘bread’ that had been pre-boiled or that contained saffron:

Sodden breade, as symnels and crackenels, and breade baken upon a stone, or upon yron, and breade that saffron is in, is not laudable.

Boorde appears to have believed that eating any manner of ‘crust’, including that of saffron bread and Simnels could cause kidney stones to form and refrained from eating all types of bread unless it was at least 24 hours old. These days, Simnel cakes are simply baked and the pastry outer has been dropped in favour of a golden marzipan topping complete with eleven almond paste balls representing Christ’s faithful apostles (the ‘missing’ marzipan apostle being Judas).

A Spiced Cake, or Simnel, for Mother’s Day or Easter

Although it is not called a Simnel in The English Huswife (1615), Gervase Markham includes saffron in his Spice Cake which contains many of the ingredients used in later recipes for Simnel Cake. It is Markham’s recipe that I have used as the basis for my homage to the original Simnel. This produces a brioche like ‘cake’ more akin to a tea bread. I’ve included a marzipan layer, in keeping with modern tradition.