Easy Simnel Cake Traybake

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5 from 22 votes

The Easy Simnel Cake Traybake is a dense, moist fruit cake featuring a mix of dried fruits soaked in fresh orange juice, enriched with butter, brown sugar, eggs, and almond flour. Seasoned with cinnamon and mixed spices, it includes cubes of marzipan folded into the batter and marzipan balls scattered on top. This baked traybake offers enhanced citrus notes and an almond undertone typical of traditional Simnel cake flavors.

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 15 mins

Servings: 20 slices

Calories: 416 kcal

Course: Dessert, Cake

Cuisine: British

Ingredients

For the cake…

500 g dried fruit mix I buy a pre-mixed pack that contains raisins, sultanas, currants and mixed peel, mixed
2 orange zest and juice
225 g butter softened
225 g light soft brown sugar
4 egg ideally at room temperature, large
225 g self-raising flour
75 g ground almonds (almond flour)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice (US - pumpkin spice)
200 g marzipan cut into 1cm cubes (optional, golden

For the icing…

100 g icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
1 orange you won’t need it all!, juice only
25 g almonds you can buy them already toasted!, toasted, flaked
300 g marzipan rolled into 20 balls, golden

You will also need…

A 33 by 23cm (13 by 9ins) cake pan – e.g. this one*

Instructions

To make the simnel cake…

Cup of Yum

First, place all the dried fruit in a large bowl and squeeze over the juice of the 2 oranges (make sure you zest the oranges first as zesting a squeezed orange is super hard!). Stir together with your hands to help the dried fruit absorb the orange juice.
Next, grease and line a 33 by 23cm (13 by 9ins) cake pan (see tips above) and preheat your oven to 160C / 140C fan / gas mark 3 / 325F.
Now beat together the softened butter and light brown sugar.
Add the 4 eggs, one at a time, thoroughly mixing in each egg before adding the next.
Next, gently fold in the flour, almonds, cinnamon and mixed spice.
Then add the dried fruit and any remaining soaking liquid, plus the orange zest.
Finally, VERY GENTLY stir in the marzipan cubes, so as not to squish them too much.
Tip the cake mixture into your prepared traybake tin and place in the oven for 1 hour, or until the cake is golden brown on top and just starting to come away from the sides. If you poke a skewer into the centre of the cake, it should come away clean – though do be careful, as if you get a bit of marzipan it looks a lot like uncooked cake mixture, when in fact it isn’t – so test a few times, just to make sure.
When the cake is cooked, use the baking paper to lift the cake out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely before decorating.

To decorate…

Place the icing sugar in a small bowl and add just enough orange juice (from the 3rd orange) to make a thick, but still pourable glacé icing.
Drizzle the icing over the cake graffiti style – diagonally one way and then the opposite way. Keep back a little of the icing as you will need it to stick the marzipan balls onto the cake.
Next, scatter over the flaked almonds.
Roll the remaining marzipan into 20 roughly equal sized balls (tip – weigh them to get the right size – they should weigh roughly 15g (½ oz) each).
Heat your grill (broiler) up to its highest temperature, and place the shelf on its highest setting (i.e. as near the heat as possible).
Place your marzipan balls on a grill rack and place under the grill for a few seconds, until they go brown. Watch the balls like a hawk as they brown super-fast!
Use the remaining icing to stick the marzipan balls to the top of the simnel cake in a grid pattern – 4 by 5 (4 along the shortest side and 5 along the longest section).
Finally cut the cake into 20 pieces, ensuring everyone gets a marzipan ball!

Notes

This cake freezes well when undecorated; decorate only after thawing.
Nutrition information provided serves as a rough guideline.

Nutrition Information

Calories 416kcal (21%) Carbohydrates 56g (19%) Protein 7g (14%) Fat 20g (31%) Saturated Fat 7g (35%) Cholesterol 57mg (19%) Sodium 107mg (4%) Potassium 323mg (7%) Fiber 5g (20%) Sugar 40g (80%) Vitamin A 373IU (7%) Vitamin C 11mg (12%) Calcium 96mg (10%) Iron 2mg (11%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 20 slices

Amount Per Serving

Calories 416

% Daily Value*

Calories	416kcal	21%
Carbohydrates	56g	19%
Protein	7g	14%
Fat	20g	31%
Saturated Fat	7g	35%
Cholesterol	57mg	19%
Sodium	107mg	4%
Potassium	323mg	7%
Fiber	5g	20%
Sugar	40g	80%
Vitamin A	373IU	7%
Vitamin C	11mg	12%
Calcium	96mg	10%
Iron	2mg	11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.