Food & Drink

EASTERY TREATS

TO CREATE WITH THE CHILDREN

Easter is a time for holidays, family and getitng together. If the children are saying 'I'm bored' this Easter then occupy them with a bit of home baking, a sweet treat awaits at the end of their efforts. It is also the perfect way to make Easter gifts for friends and family. Avoid buying heavily overpackaged commercial Easter Eggs, and settle for a healthier alternative made with love and care.

Easter Simnel Cake Simnel cakes have been known since at least medieval times. Simnel cake is a light fruitcake formerly eaten during the preEaster period , a traditional cake for Easter Sunday. Simnel cakes are often associated with Mothering Sunday, also known as Simnel-Sunday.

round biscuits have a soft, biscuity, sugary crunch. Alternatively be adventurous and try making some Easter bread, in many European countries the practice of eating Easter bread or sweetened "communion" bread traces its origin back to Byzantium and the Orthodox Christian church. The recipe for sweetened or "honey-leavened" bread may date back as far as the Homeric Greek period.

But remember, whatever you bake enjoy having fun with the family!

Equipment An 8 inch round deep (removable bottom) cake tin. Line it with a cake liner.

Method Create your marzipan by seiving the icing sugar into a bowl, add almonds and stir to combine. Add the lemon juice until the mixture starts to clump together. Knead until you have a ball of marizpan paste. Take some of the paste and roll it into a circle, place the baking tin ontop of the paste and cut out a circle. Set aside the remaining marzipan for later.

Pre-heat the oven 150C. Measure out the cake ingredients into a bowl and beat throughoughly until blended thoroughly. Use half the mixture in the cake tin. Top with a layer of marzipan mixture, spoon the remaining cake mix on the top. Bake inthe oven for 2hrs (approx) until golden brown, cover the top of the cake whilst cooking if it is browning too quickly. Remove from the tin once cooked, leave to cool for 10 minutes before trying to remove from the tin. Once cooled completely warm the jam and brush the top of the cake, roll out another circle of marizpan to cover the top of the cake and crimp the edges.

Roll the remaining marzipan mix into 11 even sized balls and place around the edge of the cake. Finally grill carefully until lightly browned, one to two minutes, or use a blow torch.

Other things to bake this Easter How about the classic Hot Cross Bun? In the time of Elizabeth I of England (1592), the London Clerk of Markets issued a decree forbidding the sale of hot cross buns and other spiced breads, except at burials, on Good Friday, or at Christmas.

Or traditional Easter biscuits given to guests on Easter Sunday. Originating from the West Country, they are made from flour, butter, egg yolk, baking powder and sugar. Lightly spiced, the currant-studded soft and

Ingredients

For the Marzipan 190g icing sugar 190g gorund almonds 4 tsp lemon juice icing sugar for dusting Apricot Jam for top of the cake

For the Cake Mixture 190g self raising flower 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 3 eggs 165g butter 165g light brown sugar 50g sultanas 150g currants 30g glace cherries 50g mixed glace peel icing sugar butter for the cake tin