Mothers Day celebrations

Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday, or Mother’s Day as it is now more commonly known in the U.K. is a Christian Festival that occurs on the third Sunday before Easter Sunday. During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth century workers were allowed to return home so they and their families could visit their ‘Mothering Church’ on this day. During Victorian times servants in the Great Houses were given the day off to visit their mothers. Young girls would bake a Simnel cake and take it home as a gift for their mothers. In the early Victorian period the cake was decorated with preserved fruits and flowers, but later on the custom was to decorate it with 11 marzipan balls (to represent the 11 disciples minus Judas Iscariot). Nowadays, though, the Simnel Cake is associated with Easter Sunday and eaten on that day. 

 Simnel Cake Recipe

Preparation time:
30 minutes, plus soaking and cooling

Cooking time:
135 minutes to 150 minutes

 Serves 16

Ingredients

• 175g caster sugar, plus extra to sprinkle
• 500g bag Waitrose Mixed Dried Fruits
• 150 g sultanas
• 5 tbsp orange-flavoured liqueur
• 175g unsalted butter, softened
• 4 pieces stem ginger from a jar, coarsely grated, plus 1 tbsp of the syrup
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 225 g plain flour
• 1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp ground mixed spice
• 500g Cook's Ingredients White Marzipan
• Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

1. Mix all the dried fruits in a bowl with the liqueur and leave to stand for 1 hour. Grease and line an 18cm cake tin with non-stick baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 150°C, gas mark 2.
2. Put the butter, sugar and grated ginger in a large bowl and beat well until pale and creamy. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little of the flour if the mixture starts to curdle. Stir in the flour and spices, then the dried fruit with any juices left in the bowl. Mix well.
3. Using about a quarter of the marzipan, make 11 oval balls, about the size of a mini egg, and set aside. Shape half of the remaining marzipan into a ball and roll out onto a surface dusted with icing sugar to an 18cm circle. Spoon half the cake mixture into the tin and spread in an even layer. Lay the paste over the cake mixture, pressing it down gently. Spoon the remaining cake mixture on top and spread with the back of a spoon.
4. Bake for about 2 and a quarter to 2 and a half hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.
5. Transfer the cooled cake to a baking sheet and brush the top with the ginger syrup. Roll out the remaining marzipan as above and press down onto the top of the cake. Pinch decoratively around the edges. Arrange the marzipan balls on top, sticking them with a little extra syrup from the jar. Heat the surface of the cake under a moderate grill for 1-2 minutes, watching closely, until the marzipan starts to toast. If one area turns too dark, cover it with foil.
6. Transfer to a plate or cake board and dust lightly with extra caster sugar. Or to wrap, cut a large circle of clear Cellophane. Position the cake plate over the centre and bring the sides of the Cellophane up over the cake. Squeeze the edges together and secure with ribbon. Alternatively, put the cake, on its board or plate, in a small cake box (available from cake decorating shops), or in a gift box.

(copied from the website  http://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes.html)

This morning I received a bouquet of flowers and a card, so the tradition of giving of gifts to commemorate Mothers Day  continues in this house. But the nicest thing of all was my two and a half year old granddaughter who wanted to help me put the flowers in the vase, so I gave her a stem with a few leaves. She decided one of the leaves looked like a paintbrush and spent the next 45 minutes or so painting various imaginary pictures and making up stories. Just goes to prove sometimes children can find pleasure in the simplest of things.

 My Bouquet of flowers for Mothers Day

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