Baking Bo

Happy Easter! I thought by this point, you might be sick of chocolate eggs and fancy something a little bit more traditional. Before this year, I had never tried, let alone made, a Simnel Cake. But my Mum and I made my Grandma one for Mothers Day, as traditionally it was made by young girls in service in large houses to take home to their mothers on Mothering Sunday. It is decorated with balls of marzipan to represent the 11 disciples and is eaten at Easter.  Ingredients: 225g plain flour 1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder pinch of salt 100g glace cherries 350g mixed fruit 175g unsalted butter, softened  175g light brown sugar zest of 1 lemon 4 eggs 50g ground almonds 2 tbsp milk 500g marzipan 2 tbsp apricot jam Method: 1. Grease and line a 20.5cm round deep cake tin. Preheat your oven to 160 fan. 2. Put the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set to one side. Wash the cherries with warm water to remove their sticky syrup. Halve and put them into a bowl with the dried fruit and 1 tbsp o