A light fruit cake to celebrate Easter but was traditionally made for Mothering Sunday.
Ingredients 225g butter or margarine 225g raw brown sugar 4 free range eggs 300g wholemeal flour pinch of salt 350g currants 175g sultanas 1 lemon, rind grated 1tsp ground cinnamon 1tsp ground nutmeg milk to mix 3 tbsp apricot jam 675g Marzipan
Marzipan 175g caster sugar 280g sifted icing sugar plus extra for rolling 450g ground almond seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod 2 eggs beaten ½ tsp orange or lemon juice
Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, salt, currants, sultanas, lemon rind and spices and fold into the creamed mixture. Add sufficient milk to give a ‘dropping’ consistency.
Spoon half of the cake mixture into the prepared tin. Level the surface. Roll out one third of the marzipan to a 20cm round. Place on top of the cake mixture. Top with remaining cake mixture and level the surface. Bake in the oven at 150℃ (300F/mark 2) for about 2½ hours, or until firm to the touch. Cool in the tin.
The next day roll out half of the remaining marzipan to a 20cm round. Brush with apricot jam and press on to the top of the cake. If you wish, flute the edges, and with a knife, mark a lattice effect on top.
Use the remaining paste to make eleven balls. Position these round the top edge of the cake with a little apricot jam.
adapted from the Cranks recipe book and bbcgoodfood.com.