Easter Baking | Cornflake & Simnel Cakes

Easter Baking | Cornflake & Simnel Cakes

Try our simple and delicious recipes with the whole family in the run up to the Easter weekend - lay decorated Easter cakes, an abundance of chocolate eggs and fizz to go all round!

 

Easter Cornflake Cakes

Ingredients (makes 24) 

75g butter
200g dark chocolate, broken into small chunks
4 tbsp golden syrup
200g cornflakes 

Method

Melt butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a saucepan over a low heat. Then remove and cool for five to ten minutes.

Put 24 cupcake cases on to a muffin tray or baking tray.

Stir the cornflakes into the mixture and add into the cupcake cases.

Add two or three small chocolate eggs to each cake. Allow to set and then tuck in!

 

Simnel Cake Recipe

Ingredients

For the cake
150g sultanas
150g currants
75g glacé cherries, roughly chopped
50g mixed peel
75ml rum
200g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the tin
200g soft light brown sugar
3 large eggs
75g golden syrup
200g self-raising flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
100g ground almonds
1 tsp mixed spice
1 orange, zested

For the decoration
500g golden marzipan
2-3 tbsp apricot jam

Method

Tip the dried fruits, cherries, mixed peel and rum into a bowl and soak for at least 2 hours or overnight if possible.

Heat the oven to 170C/fan 150C/gas 3. Butter and line the bottom of a deep cake tin. Beat together the butter and sugar, then add the eggs followed by the syrup.

In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and mixed spice. Then gently fold this into the butter mixture - followed by the soaked dried fruit (and the liquid the fruit has been soaking in) plus the orange zest.

Add ½ of the cake batter to the prepared cake tin and put to the side.

Roll out ⅓ of the marzipan and cut out an 18cm circle. Gently put on top of the cake batter and spread the rest of the cake batter on top.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes or until dark golden. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before adding to wire rack.

Use the marzipan to create 11 small balls. With the rest marzipan and cut out a 20cm circle – be sure to leave enough to hang over the sides of the cake. Add a layer of apricot jam on the top of the cooled cake and put the marzipan circle on top. Use your fingers to crimp the edges of the marzipan and top with the marzipan balls!

To finish, pop under a hot grill for a minute of two - remove when starting to caramelise (be careful it will burn quickly).