What is Simnel cake and why do we eat it?

Available for over a year

Easter is just around the corner and like just about all religious festivals there are all sorts of food related traditions that surround it, and not just chocolate. Simnel cake may have fallen out of popularity in recent years, but if you like marzipan, it's an absolute must have. It's been eaten since medieval times as both a rich, sweet treat and a symbolic ritual. The fruit cake is topped with eleven marzipan balls to represent the eleven apostles of Christ, minus Judas. It also used to be specifically associated with Mothering Sunday. Reknowned historian Caroline Aston explains more to Ben Jackson.