Apr 2nd, 2025

Author: donich_admin

Simnel Cake

This was the cake I made for my Mum for Mothers’ Day.  It is a simnel cake – apparently in the 18th and 19th centuries this was the traditional gift for girls who were out “in service” would take to their Mothers that day.  They would be given the day off and the cake would be baked from ingredients from the “big house” kitchen.

I suspect, however, that this was a tradition for women working in large country house with big staffs – sort of “Downton Abbey” type houses where conditions for servants were actually better than they would have experienced in their own homes.  Sadly the same was not true for the typical servant of the period, a “general servant” or “slavie” working single handed in a middle class household.  Those women and girls had generally horrible lives, sometimes working 14 hour days.  No simnel cakes for their mothers.

My mum got one though