This traditional Easter cake recipe doesn't take long to make - most of the work is done by the oven. It's usually topped with 11 balls of paste, representing the apostles, but we’ve decorated ours with almond Easter eggs.
Ingredients
- 175g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
- 250g plain flour, plus a little extra
- 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
- 100g glacé cherries, halved
- 50g chopped mixed candied peel
- 175g sultanas
- 175g raisins
- 125g currants
- 175g golden caster sugar
- 4 medium eggs, lightly beaten and at room temperature
- 3 tbsp milk
- Icing sugar, to dust
- 200g almond paste
For the decoration
- Icing sugar, to dust
- Yellow food colouring
- 350g almond paste
- 1 tbsp apricot jam, warmed
- Few fresh African violets
Method
- 1. Preheat the oven to 150°C/fan130°C/gas 2. Grease and line a 20cm round deep cake tin with a double thickness of baking paper.
- 2. Sift the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Stir in the zest, cherries, peel, sultanas, raisins and currants.
- 3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little extra flour if the mixture begins to curdle. Add the flour and fruit mix and milk and mix to a soft dropping consistency. Spread just over half of the mixture in the tin.
- 4. On a surface dusted with icing sugar, roll out 200g almond paste to a 19cm circle. Place on top of the mixture in the tin. Spoon in the rest of the mixture. Level the top and make a slight dent in the centre. Bake for 23/4 hours, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin.
- 5. For the decoration, dust the work surface with icing sugar. Knead a little yellow colouring into 350g almond paste, then cut off 50g and set aside. Roll out the remainder into a 20cm circle. Brush the top of the cake with the jam and put the almond paste on top. Crimp the edges.
- 6. Take the remaining almond paste and divide into 5 pieces. Dust your hands with icing sugar and roll each piece into an egg shape. Arrange on the cake with the violets.
Nutritional info
Per serving: 597kcals, 21g fat (9g saturated), 8.1g protein, 100.5g carbs, 84.3g sugar, 0.4g salt