Simnel Cupcakes are crammed with fruit and marzipan, flavoured with orange, and topped with icing and chocolate eggs – a perfect Easter teatime treat.
Simnel Cupcakes
I usually make small cakes in fairy cake cases, on the grounds that a small bite is all you need to feel indulged, but not over-indulged. I’ve made an exception here because there is no way I could get everything I wanted into a very small cake. You won’t be eating two of these at a sitting. If they’re too big you could always share, but some occasions demand a hefty cake – and this is it.
I love Simnel Cake, either the traditional kind or the Orange Simnel Cake I recently made, which doesn’t have dried fruit in it. The beauty of these Simnel Cupcakes is that they have all the good things of both of those cakes – fruit, orange, marzipan – and then you have icing and chocolate as well. What more could you want?
Well, you might want a slight taste of alcohol, I suppose. If you do, just soak the fruit in 60 ml of orange liqueur – or any spirit really – instead of orange juice. And if chocolate really isn’t your thing, you could use more marzipan and cut out Easter shapes to go on top. Or you could cut out stars for Christmas. In fact, you could have these cakes at any time of the year and put an appropriate motif on top.
I did try these cakes without any icing – and actually sent some down to my mother-in-law un-iced. Not because I was being mean, but I didn’t have time to finish them before Keith left. We all liked them in their naked state and I might make them again like that, but if you do want indulgence you need icing and as much as you can cram on top.
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Simnel Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 cupcakes 1x
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Pin RecipeDescription
Simnel Cupcakes are crammed with fruit and marzipan, flavoured with orange, and topped with icing and chocolate eggs.
You will need:
- a 12-hole muffin tin
- 12 cupcake paper cases
- grater or zester
- citrus juicer
Ingredients
For the cake mixture:
- 1 large unwaxed orange
- 250g dried mixed fruit
- 175g butter
- 150g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 20ml milk
- 250g self-raising flour
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) mixed spice
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) grated nutmeg
- 50g marmalade
For the filling and decoration:
- 150g marzipan
- 150g icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15ml or 1 sachet) powdered egg white
- 20–30ml warm water
- chocolate mini eggs
Instructions
PREPARATION:
- Zest the orange and put into a bowl big enough for the dried fruit
- If you’re using a grater, try to keep just the orange zest, not the white pith underneath
- Juice the orange. Put in the bowl with the zest and mix to distribute the zest
- Add the fruit to the bowl and stir to cover in juice. Set aside
- If you have time, leave the fruit for an hour
- Set the oven to 160°C fan, gas mark 4
- Set out the paper cases in the muffin tin
- Divide the marzipan into 12 pieces and put in the fridge.
For the Simnel Cupcakes:
- Put the remaining cake ingredients, except the marmalade, into a bowl
- Butter, sugar, eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, mixed spice, nutmeg
- Mix together well
- About 2 minutes on high with an electric mixer, 1- 1 1/2 minutes in a food processor
- Scrape down with a spatula. Add the marmalade and mix again briefly
- Stir in the fruit and orange mixture by hand to avoid breaking the fruit
- Half fill the paper cases with mixture
- Flatten a ball of marzipan into a round disc and place on top of the mixture in each paper case
- Spoon the remaining mixture on top of the marzipan
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cakes are golden brown and spring back when lightly touched on top
- Leave in the tin for 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a wire rack to cool.
FOR THE ICING:
- Sift the icing sugar and dried egg white into a bowl
- If your icing sugar is new and looks okay, you may not need to bother (I didn’t, but I would for non-family guests)
- Mix the powders carefully with a spoon, to avoid sugar everywhere
- Add the water to the sugar a little at a time and mix until it is spreadable, but not too runny
- You may not need all the water
- Coat the top of the cake with icing and arrange chocolate eggs on top.
Notes
Everyday Cooks tips:
- If you prefer. you can use orange liqueur instead of orange juice
- Decorate with marzipan shapes instead of chocolate eggs for a non-Easter treat
Storage:
- The cakes will keep in an airtight container for up to a week, longer in the fridge.
Made this recipe or got a question? Let me know!