How to Make Simnel Cake - The Victorian Way
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
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Though known and loved today as an Easter treat, in Victorian times simnel cake was more to do with Mothering Sunday, which originated as the day in Lent when people would visit their home (or 'Mother') church. But by Mrs Crocombe's time, Mothering Sunday was already starting to be associated with honouring mothers. Whatever occasion it's baked for, this almond-topped fruitcake is rich, fragrant and rather good with a cup of tea.
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INGREDIENTS
• 150ml (5 fl. oz) milk
• 2 tsp dried yeast
• 225g (8oz) flour
• 115g (4oz) butter
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg or 1/4 of a small nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 340g (12oz) sugar
• 285g (10oz) currants or sultanas
• 35g (1 1/2oz) chopped candied citron
• 35g (1 1/2oz) chopped candied lemon peel
• 3 small eggs, well beaten
• 2 tbsp brandy (or milk for alcohol-free)
• Almond paste (or pre-made marzipan)
• Crystallised / candied fruit, to decorate
METHOD
1. Warm the milk, add the yeast and a teaspoon of sugar and leave until the milk is frothy
2. Meanwhile, rub the butter into the flour, then mix in all of the dry ingredients
3. Make a hole in the centre and pour in the milk-yeast mix, plus the eggs and brandy
4. Mix well then cover over and leave to rise for two hours
5. Once risen, pour half the mix into a well buttered and lined cake tin
6. Take half the almond paste and add a layer into the tin on top of the cake mix
7. Pour in the rest of the cake mix over the top
8. Bake in a moderate oven (180°C / 160°C fan) for 2.5 to 3 hours, covering over if the cake starts to brown too much
9. Turn out and allow to cool before arranging the remaining almond paste in a ring on the top, a dusting of caster sugar and browning slightly further in the oven or with a torch
10. Decorate with the candied fruits
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
00:46 For this recipe, you will need...
01:21 Making the cake mix
04:40 Leave to rise
04:59 Layering the cake
06:37 Time to bake! - Zábava
I'm ready for the shade. Buckle up Mary-anne.
Made me chuckle … a lot xxx
😂🤣😂
Ohhh she's not gonna know what hit her
@@odgereiximenis9234 she’ll be crushing nuts for the rest of the day xxx
She takes it like a pro by now😂
Fun Fact no one asked to know except for me: Mothering Sunday is a British tradition that began in the 16th century where on the 4th Sunday of Lent, people of all classes would travel far and wide to worship at their "mother churches," that is the churches wherein they were baptized. This annual pilgrimage generally allowed people to visit their families as well and became a beloved custom that lasted hundreds of years before dying out. It was rekindled when the US established Mother's Day in the early 20th century and is now used to honor our mothers rather than our mother churches.
And there you have it: the rest of the story.
Thank you for the information on mother churches.
Ah, thank you! I had actually wondered about that, just not enough to get myself to look it up on my own. Now I know! 😊
Thank you, I was wondering what she meant by "Mother church"!
I’m not aware it ever died out in the uk.
Very interesting! 😊
Mrs. Crocombe: "And nutmeg." (to Jon Townsend) "Just a little."
(Jon Townsend cries.)
Right: 'Just a little more!'
I love our little and very specific niche community who gets excited for these videos. Nobody else would understand the delight it if it was explained to them 😆
Quote of the Day: “Only *OLD* cake recipes have yeast.”
I love how she says that you could write "Happy Easter" in icing as if it's the most whimsical thought she can imagine.
Mrs Crocombe better speak with the ladies in the laundry. Her apron is frightfully unpressed!
idk if I've just been super overtired lately but when Mrs. Crocombe said, "there was chair leg...and a pudding! ...it was all very silly" I found this absolutely hysterical.
I just know she knows more than she's telling.
Please never stop "The Victorian way". I could watch for hours 😭😭❤
IT IS
Same!
Poor Mary Anne is not ready for the shade level 12 today. It is good to see you Mrs. Crocombe.
Max Miller AND Mrs. Crocombe on the same Tuesday? Living the high life baby
Hello everyone, we hope you enjoy this springtime treat from Mrs Crocombe's kitchen! As usual, we asked expert food historian Dr Annie Gray to address some questions you might have about this recipe.
• Isn't simnel cake to do with Mother's Day / Mothering Sunday
Simnel cake is one of the most mythologised foods in the British repertoire. There are invention myths (e.g. the Simon and Nelly story referred to by Mrs Crocombe), and usage myths. It was indeed associated with mothering Sunday (the middle Sunday in Lent), but in the UK this had nothing to do with actual mothers, referring instead to the practice of returning to the ‘mother’ church. Many people took that Sunday off from the Lenten fast, and churches put on a feast for their congregations. Simnel cake was part of that. By the end of the nineteenth century mothering Sunday was declining, due to dispersed populations and the pressure of work. The cake became an Easter one instead.
As for Mother's Day in the modern sense, there are references in America from the late nineteenth century, but it was not universal or necessarily a celebration of mothers. It became codified and took off in the mid twentieth century, partly because it was an excellent way to sell things to people, and partly because it was a genuinely sweet sentiment. In the UK it got mixed up with mothering Sunday, and was enthusiastically adopted for similar reasons.
• Isn't Mother's Day an American invention?
As Mrs Crocombe says, Mothering Sunday had little association with mothers in 1881. It's incredibly unlikely the real Mrs Crocombe would have had any clue of regional developments in the States, but there are references to Mother's Days in a couple of contexts. In 1872 Bostonian Julia Ward Howe organised a day celebrating peace and mothers (the gender conventions around maternal instinct and women being strong ones). It was celebrated for a while before petering out in the renewed militarism leading up to the First World War. Then there were Mother's Work Days, organised, among others, by Ann Jarvis from the late 1850s. These were not mother's days as we would recognise them today, but linked both to mothers, to Christianity and to ideals of femininity. Ann died in 1905 and her daughter Anna started a campaign to honour her mother (and by extension mothers and societal expectations thereof). In 1907 a church service was held in Anna's honour, which in the States is widely regarded as the first 'proper' mother's day. In 1914 Congress passed a Mother's Day Resolution. The modern iteration is, however, much more commercialised and perfomatary than the original, more celebratory iteration. Anna Jarvis disowned the whole thing a few decades later - just as it was spreading, via the medium of card companies and florists, to the UK. Once the concept hit Britain, it was bolted on to Mothering Sunday - the original meaning of which had been largely forgotten - and the modern UK version began to take hold.
• What's the difference between marzipan and almond paste?
Essentially almond paste is, as the name suggests, spreadable. We rarely use the name now, as it is synonymous with marzipan, but in the late 19th century it was used for the stuff cooks put on cakes between the cake and the icing. Marzipan was mouldable, and the name came from marchepane, which was commonly used for the banqueting course in late medieval and Tudor Britain. Both almond paste and marzipan were based on ground almonds, sugar and egg white, and were sometimes flavoured with rosewater or orange flower water, depending on the period. Rosewater went out of fashion in the 17th century; orange flower water was very common in the 18th.
• Shouldn't there be little balls on top?
As Mrs Crocombe says, the customary decoration for a simnel was a roundel of almond paste decorated with fruit or iced. The first reference to almond balls comes from 1914, itself very probably a riff on a regional form of simnel from Shrewsbury, which was decorated with crenelated pastry according to several Victorian sources. They became more popular in the 1960s, and eventually someone attached the idea of them representing the apostles, presumably due to the Easter associations of the cake itself. It’s a classic case of attaching a myth after the fact.
• What is furmenty/frumenty?
The dish Mrs Crocombe refers to as furmenty/frumenty was a very old one, essentially a sort of porridge made with wheat. There are many versions, ranging from very plain recipes through to heavily enriched ones full of cream, fruit and spice.
• What’s a salamander?
In this context a salamander is a cooking tool used for browning the surfaces of dishes. It’s essentially a piece of metal on a long pole, which is heated in the fire until glowing hot. The heat coming off it acts like a grill. They are still in use in some kitchens today, for example in browning the tops of crème brûlée. But you could brown your own marzipan topping either in the oven, grill or carefully using a blowtorch.
Thank you for the video
I have a few questions.
Where would people buy foreign spices like cinnamon and nutmeg? Were they affordable for the working classes?
is almond paste the same as marzipan? my mom always made her simnel cake with marzipan and put little round ball decorations around the edge on top
@@natalieeis9284 i think groceries were becoming relatively commonplace by then - not in the capacity that we have them now, of course, but shops to buy sundries and basic imported goods existed and not especially expensive. spices, after all, were one of the biggest imports in colonial times - which makes it widely available and relatively affordable. they would hardly make such a profit from it if it were only sold to the upper class. another history food channel, Early American, mentioned this in the comments of their video once when people kept expressing surprise that foods in the 1700-1800s had spices and flavourings.
Marzipan should be made with rosewater, but almond paste isn't.
What are the candied fruits on top?
Am I the only person who watches a new video from Mrs. Crocombe and then launches into a binge of all the previous videos?
No😊
Yes!! Absolutely 😂
Every time
PIGEON PIE!!!!
Every time!
Delightful even though it seems to have a small editing mistake at about the -1:48 min mark when Mrs C. seems to repeat herself giving again the baking instructions.
She wants to be SURE to wrap it in brown paper!
Nah that's period accurate. Lord Braybrooke is so annoying, he's driving her round the bend.
@@ZeTrystan yep 6:38
@@yorkshirepudding9860 LOL!
Nah, glitch in the matrix
I saw the thumbnail and said "Oh lovely" and clicketh on.
I didn’t realize just how badly I’ve needed to hear “for this recipe, you will need…” until the goddess herself said it ❤️❤️❤️
I was this week writing out instructions for students to build a lantern (school project) and I wrote: "For this project, you will need." I laughed myself silly.
Today, got multiple rejections for my college applications but this video truly cheered me up.
Hang in there. You'll get in where you're supposed to be.
I hope you get a acceptance letter soon
Don't give up! You'll succeed eventually. Just keep trying!
"Annie Chase was telling me a story the other day. I dont remember the details but their was a vicar and a callgirl"
Dear Mrs Crocombe, please could you do a programme about frumenty, it is something we no longer see.
A new video from Tasting History and a new Mrs. Crocombe today! Sometimes the simple things are the absolute best.
now, if i see a Townsends video drop today....
Tasting History is a good one too
@@lisawillis8227 I'm late to the Tasting History team, so I just found Max's Simnel cake last weekend.
And now, Mrs. Crocombe!? *Swoon*
Let us hope this does not lead to carving knives at dawn!
Totally on the same page!! I love Max Miller
@@Keeperoffyre
The day I see videos from Tasting History, Mrs. Crocombe, and Jon Townsend all drop at once, I will run out and buy a lottery ticket because that means it's A Very Good Day.
I truly appreciate the delivery of these videos. It makes me feel like a stable boy that mrs. Crocombe has taken under her wing and is teaching me to cook granting me a brighter future and a good home skill.
This raises the interesting question of who the "viewer character" is - we know that only kitchen staff were allowed into the kitchen (Edgar the third gardener, in his video, has to stop at the threshold and hand in the apples), and Mrs Crocombe is speaking to us as almost her equal (compared to how she speaks to the Lower Servants, e.g. the kitchen maids or Edgar; she speaks to us more similiarly to how she converses with Mrs Warwick, a fellow Upper Servant).
My headcanon, I'll admit, is that the "viewer character" is a less experienced professed cook employed by a slightly less affluent household, and that their employers frequently visit Audley End and bring their own cook along to help with the extra workload (and/or because one of the employers has special dietary requirements - perhaps the lady of the house is In A Very Delicate State* and has cravings and/or doctor's recommendations and/or certain things are temporarily making her queasy). I'm probably wrong :-)
*pregnant
I assumed I was a kitchen maid who had to learn these skills in order to find better placement later on.
My mom and I were going through some of my grandma’s old stuff and we found a journal that contained several recipes. The journal belonged to my grandma’s mom (so my great grandmother), and simnel cake was one of the recipes in her journal (it was part journal, part cookbook). Now, I’m convinced that it’s fate that we found the journal and Mrs. Crocombe made this same cake. I’ll be making it for our Easter Feast! Happy Easter, everyone!
Did it have the same ingredients? I hope you had a Happy Easter!
Marianne made a good contribution with her almond paste.
DISCLAIMER: No salamanders were harmed in the making of this video.
Does anyone else love looking at the cookware on display in the background?
I covet it so much. And the shelving. And the big kitchen.
I want to live in that kitchen.
Maybe a more modern stove, but I covet the copper pots and pans.
It's just perfect.
Yep!
The Mr Townsend that lives in the 18th century would say "more nutmeg "
I always had leftover crystallized fruit, candied peel, and currants. Never knew what to do with em until now.
The moment when you watched her video on cheese seftons at uni to relax between two lectures, and come home to find out a new video is about to come out - what a terrific day!
Baking this later, I suppose?
@@TheIndependentLens This is gonna be my Easter project. Finally something to look forward to!
@@evelynfrye1319 Hope it turns out wonderful. I wonder what kind of tea would go best with this cake?
@@TheIndependentLens Whatever kind of tea Mrs. Crocombe spills at the moment, of course.
For this recipe, you will need: one dozen daffodils...
I do love it when a Mrs Crocombe video pops up. Who else wanted her to cut into that cake?
Mrs C gearing up for summer, just when we need shade the most!
I love the segment listing ingredients even though mentally I always add turbot and “cayerne pepern” thanks to the novympia parody, lol
Omg that parody is hilarious and so underrated.
For this recipe you will need .......TURBOT and an overly large handfull of salt thrown into the TURBOT's face
Arrrminns
'Mother's Day not popular here' - until the retailers found out what a money-spinner it could be! LOL! Thank you for the video! It is epic as always!
Checking measurements for “a little brandy” thank you Mrs C❤
I literally gasped when I saw this notice! MRS CROCOMBE!!! ❤❤❤
Long Live Our Shady Kitchen Queen!
I feel as though Mr. Townsend would love the addition of nutmeg in this cake.
She needed to grate just a little more . . .
“There was a chair leg and a pudding, it was all very silly.” - that made me spit my tea!
Candied peel and Brandy.....it's going to be a great cake!
I want a tea towel that says “for this recipe you will need…”
I'm from México but i love simnel cake since i watch a video from the 70's when mary berrys made one on tv...i made it and woow!! XD so i had to try this one to!!
It's ridiculous how happy these videos make me. A very Happy Easter to all who celebrate!
At least in the American South, Homecoming is a popular church holiday. It will vary when it is held, each church is an individual. But you are to go back to the church you were baptized (or christened, or whatever your church does) on that day. Kinda like a church family reunion.
It's so Ironic because I grew up in the church and remember homecoming but never thought about it's (True Tradition's)!!! 💖🍀💖
Thank god we were spared the sempiternal 'You can skip this if you want' when she added the brandy!
I want someone to look at me the way Mrs. Crocombe looked at her finished simnel cake.
RUNS UP & 🤗🧡S MRS. CROCOMBE!!!! I MISSED YOU!!!! Goes to the sink to wash my hands with the new disinfectant hand soap I got at Walmart last night & waits patiently
Yey!!!! But… will we see Edgar the gardener again? Just wondering
1:54 I'm doing my best, Mrs. Crocombe, pls don't yell at me!
I always love the little history lessons intertwined with Mrs. Crocombe’s anecdotes
Mrs Crocombe: "Oh, I see it's sunny outside. Time to throw some shade."
And what do we learn from this, my dear children? Annie tells silly stories. All hail Mrs Crocombe, the og domestic goddess!
Every now and then, Mrs. Crocombe expresses surprise to "see us" before launching into what she's making that day. I kind of want her to "not see us" for a bit while she's humming to herself, gathering ingredients then "catch sight of us" and do a Monty Pythonesque scream and pratfall ala Brian's mother when the 3 Wise Men entered her tent.
Such a wonderful imagination you have. That does sound fun 💖🍀💖🍀💖🍀
"Just let yourself in, why don'tcha? I could'a been doing all sorts."
Victorian Way video is uploaded
Me: *takes a deep breath through my nose*
“I’m ready for Mrs. Crocombe to obliterate my existence with her shade.”
There wasn't much shade in this video surprisingly 🫣
I wanted to see it sliced! Looks amazing from the outside.
Exactly, I really want to see the texture inside!
Yes me too!
Yeast and two to three hours in the oven ... I was on the edge of my chair to see the crumb.
❤❤❤❤Ich liebe ihre Sendung Frau Crocombe
These videos have a very reassuring quality about them. Even though the modern world of 2023 seems like hell, when watching these wonderful cookery videos from "Mrs Crocombe" it just takes you out of this world and back to the Victorian age, even for just a few minutes. Wonderful.
I Wholeheartedly Agree 💖🍀💖🍀💖🍀💖🍀
Is there any chance that Mrs. Crocombe could go over what common pantry staples would have been? I looked back through the old videos but didn’t see anything on that topic specifically.
Great idea!
Love it!
The last time I made a simnel cake I covered it with almond paste and made 11 balls of almond paste to represent the eleven faithful disciples. I didn't use yeast, so I suspect that I didn't use an ancient recipe.
You know how the comments can sometimes be so informative? Good job English Heritage.
Agreed 💯💯💯
Mrs. Crocombe deserves a Hollywood Handshake!
I do wish we could see the inside and a cut piece of cake after viewing the finished display of the whole cake.
For this recipe you will need........
I think Annie must be lovely company. Telling silly stories in the kitchen, getting really excited and involved with them. I'd enjoy hanging out with her
Armond Paste is my new Bond villain name.
I love to play this series whenever I'm cooking, mostly baking, as if we're cooking alongside eachother.
That' sounds Absolutely Amazing Idea 💡💡💡 Thanks for Sharing 💖🍀💖
A new Mrs Crocombe video on my birthday! ☺️🥳
Happy birthday!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
@@Dia_7hom thank you! Have a treat today for me!
Happy Birthday 🎉
Made my day ,its 3am here i havent slept just saw ur notification
Oh what a surprise it was to see a new Victorian Way video this evening!
And I gotta say, I love the ones where Mrs. Crocombe teaches us new things about what she's cooking and shares stories. Thanks so much, from America ❤️
Mrs. C mentioned Mothering Sunday. I thought this was a reference to Palm Sunday, but alas no. She also mentioned Mother’s Day in the US, which is different. However, Mothering Sunday is sometimes referred to as Mother’s Day in the UK, still different from the US holiday.
Mothering Sunday occurs on the last (4th) Sunday of Lent, 3 weeks before Easter Sunday.
Another comment explained it started in UK as a pilgrimage to the chapel where people were baptized (their "mother" church), and turned into family reunions, but fell out of favour due to travel time cutting into increasingly strict work hours.
Mrs Crocombe has returned!
It's funny, I was thinking of her today and also the parody of her, and how I wanted to see an episode with Mrs. Crocombe, and boom! There she is! Armond paste and all. I found her to be especially sweet this time, and I loved the historical tidbits that painted a picture of the time.
I have so bad food intolerances so I made a dairy free, gluten free version and it turned out amazing. I love fruit cake but have never been able to make one that tastes great. I now have a new favorite sweet.
Yay! Mrs. Crocombe updated the day before my birthday! What a great present! 🎉❤
Happy Birthday 😊
Have a nice birthday!
Tomorrow is my birthday too! 😀
I love your videos, but would it be possible to not raise the volume when the music starts playing? I can barely hear her, and then I go deaf when the music starts.
All hail Mrs. Crocombe, the true Queen.
Hip hip hooray , hip hip hooray!!! 💖🍀💖🍀
I would love to have a copy of the receipt that would tell me how that small portion of her cake mix can fill that large pan. Mrs. Crocombe continues to be a marvel to me.
I am half way through the video and the only thing that I can think of is that mrs Crocombe didn’t greet me with her usual ‘Aaaaah hello’. What have I done mrs Crocombe? WHAT HAVE I DOOOOONE?
☺️☺️☺️
I've decided Armond Paste would make a great drag name.
Happy Easter Mrs Crocombe!
Been watching these videos in my bed before sleeping 🛌, they relax me and make feel so well, thanks @englishheritage mrs. Crocombe should have her own show.
This woman is a treasure
Beautiful! I hadn't the least idea what a Simnel Cake was, nor a Mothering Sunday, so I am once again educated and entertained.
Wholeheartedly Agree 💖🍀💖🍀💖🍀💖🍀
Whoa was that a Townsend reference??? a little nutmeg...
It's called a Simnel cake becasue it can tell the sine what to do, and the cosine likewise, and work out the tangent of t'quaderatics!
The copper is beautifully polished ☀️ ahh spring time freshness and Jonquils.. a jolly good day to visit Mrs. Crocombe's kitchen. 💙
Always a treat to meet up with Mrs. Crocombe.
I really wanna visit Audley End
😭😭😭💖💖💖💖
What region is her accent from? I love the way she pronounces the word "almond" ❤
I believe in one of the "servant food" videos she mentions that she grew up in Devonshire
I was surprised by the idea of yeast-leavened cakes being considered old fashioned!
I always wonder why Mrs Crocombe doesnt have a bendy palette knife or offset spatula to scrape her bowls with. Both were in use by the 1800s
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE
Every raucous story should involve a pudding and a chair-leg
love this series very much. I am glad when you can attach Japanese subtitles as before. Thank you very much for your help.
英語が分からないのに見ている日本人の方いますか😂
💖🍀💖🍀💖🍀💖🍀
I am japanese in spirit. I am from North Carolina and we have always had a decent size number of Japanese Immigrants. Kyoto!!!! Where are you located?
There's Mrs. C. Just in time for Easter.
Wait a minute....how does Mrs Crocombe know about American mother's day?? It doesn't even exist yet! It was first celebrated by Anna Jarvis in 1908 as a day for her own mother at her mother's church. She wanted her mother's local community to remember and give thanks for everything her mother had done to help young mothers learn to care for their children in her "Mother's day work clubs." After her mother died, she chose the same weekend two years later as a solemn remembrance day of her and of the sacrifices mothers make. That was in 1907. It wasn't a national holiday until 1914, which was exactly what Anna Jarvis DID NOT want (for mother's day to become a spectacle and money making nonsense).
Mrs Crocombe is a time traveller.
Mrs. Crocombe is a woman of many talents, clearly. 😅
She is friends with Dr Who.
Avis Crocombe worked at Audley End circ 1880-1884. While Anna Jarvis popularised mother's day, it was actually her mother Ann Jarvis who first proposed the idea in 1868 as "Mother's Friendship Day"; it was celebrated in small patches across America in the 1870s and 1880s, though it is certainly a stretch to imagine the real Avis would've ever heard of it as it was extremely obscure even in America, and mostly only taken up by the Methodist church.
Good question! Please see our pinned comment for more on this. 🙂
I'm aware of all that. I grew up in West Virginia, where Ann lived, and my grandparents took me to the Mother's Day Shrine, which is at the church she attended. The friendship day was an idea to mend the rifts left by the civil war. The mothers day we know today wasn't a thing until after she died.
"For this recipe you will need..."
That line always fills me with such delight 😊
So glad I came looking her. Here she is 😊❤
HI, MRS CROCOMBE!!!!!
A video from Mrs Crocombe AND Trixie and Katya? What a day
Just when we needed her most, she returned! ❤❤❤