Loving daughters

Back in medieval times, daughters who were living away from home (working in the big 'ouse or slaving in a brothel) would bake their mothers a cake for mothering Sunday every year when they took their annual day off. For some reason, lost in the mists of time, they called this cake simnel. Maybe they meant it was a simple cake but couldn't pronounce the word properly. We may never know.

Fast forward a bit and the church, as they so often do, appropriated the simple simnel cake by putting 11 little round balls on top and calling them apostles (they omitted Judas because they didn't like him). They then decided that it was a cake to be had at Easter.

And now to the present...in the week my wife had a piece of simnel cake, having never heard of it previously, and declared it fantastic. I was despatched to buy one for Easter. This proved fruitless (that's a simnel pun for those that know them well) so I decided to make one. This is it.

A few notes: Firstly I decided to put Mary Magdalene in the centre of the cake and made her sort of pyramid shaped rather than spherical. Secondly I made a lot more than 11 followers. These little balls represent all the servant girls slaving away all year just hanging out for their one day off. Thirdly the verdict. It is delicious. Pity it doesn't keep because we'll just have to eat it all up.