Besides creating newer dishes every so often, Chef Anuj Kapoor the Executive Chef at The Grand New Delhi has a passion to constantly rediscover long forgotten recipes of different cultures and regions. Simnel Cake is one such classic Easter time festive special. It used to be very popular in Ireland and some parts of Great Britain amongst other countries.

It was originally made for middle (fourth) Sunday of lent. Simnel cake was so loved in these parts that this Sunday came to be known as Simnel Sunday.

Chef Anuj Kapoor shares with us his recipe of the cake in case you want to crank up that oven and enjoy a fun afternoon baking time in your own kitchen!

How to make
 Preheat the oven to 170 deg C
 Cream the Butter and Sugar in a large bowl until fluffy using wooden spoon.
 Add Rum. Introduce eggs one by one into the bowl while constantly mixing.
 Fold in the flour and rest of the ingredients.
 Make the almond filling by mixing all ingredients, divide into two, roll each out to the dia of the cake pan/ring
Layering
 Place the ½ mixture into a greased, butter paper lined ring/pan. Place one roll of almond filling on top of the cake mixture, repeat the process for the second layer.
 Bake in the preheated oven for an hour.

Almond paste for topping
 You can use almond powder or almond meal. Alternately you may make it yourself by blanching, peeling, drying and then grinding almonds.
 In a food processor place the almond powder, start on low speed and add the sugar till mixed well. Add the rose water. Add the egg white to get a soft pliable dough consistency that’s easy to work with.
 Decorate the cooled cake with almond topping.
 Traditionally it is always topped with small eggs made from the same almond topping.
 Flash bake the finished cake under the grill or hot oven at 230 deg C to get little browning on top for the classic Simnel cake

Ingredients Unit Quantity
Butter Table Spoon 2
Brown Sugar Cup ½
Eggs No 2
Rum ml 5
Almond Powder Tea Spoon 1
Flour Table Spoon 3
Black Currant Cup 1
Sultana Cup ½
Orang/ Lemon Peel Table Spoon 1
Sweet Spice Gram 1

Almond Filling – for layering
Almond Powder Table Spoon 3
Icing Sugar Table Spoon 2
Egg Yolk No 2

Almond Paste Topping
Almond Powder cup 1 ½
Castor Sugar cup 1 ½
Egg white No 1
Rose water tsp 1