As it’s Easter weekend I thought it might be nice to create an Easter – themed cocktail… I wanted to avoid the obvious chocolate-themed ideas, and wanted to go further than simply throw an egg in to the drink, so I’ve loosely recreated the Simnel Cake as a cocktail. It’s quite rich, the whole egg gives it a luxurious creamy texture – probably one for sipping quietly in front of a lovely warm fire while the children run wild with their E Number enthusiasm…

“The Simnel Flip”

60ml Courvoisier Exclusif
15ml Tuaca
10ml buttered spice syrup*
1 whole egg
approx. 10 raisins
lemon zest, nutmeg & an amaretto biscuit for garnish

Combine all the liquid ingredients except the egg to a shaker glass, muddle the fruit then add the whole egg. Give it a very hard dry shake (without ice), then add ice and shake it again before double-straining into a chilled coupe glass. Grate some lemon zest and nutmeg onto the drink and serve with an amaretto biscuit. Happy Easter!

*Buttered Spice Syrup

4 sticks cinnamon
3 tsp. ground nutmeg
5g sliced fresh ginger
1 star anise
5 cloves
1 scored vanilla pod
1 tablespoon melted butter (optional)
300g sugar
250ml water

Combine all except the butter in a pan and simmer lightly for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain thoroughly. I use a muslin straining bag and do a couple of passes. You’ll still get a few speckles of spice through the syrup but I quite like this. Once it’s strained add the melted butter, give it a really good mix and then transfer to a clean sealable bottle- it will separate so remember to shake before you use it!

Simnel Cake is traditionally eaten around Easter and Passover, and is a spiced fruit cake with odd little Marzipan balls on top which are supposed to represent the disciples and of course Mr C himself. It’s origins are debated, it either comes from the Latin “similia” for the fine flour used (boring), or named after a 10 year old who after impersonating Earls and Kings was given a job in the Royal Kitchens (not so dull but not so likely either), or some twaddle about a couple of bickering parents named Simon and Nell who disagreed how to make a pudding after Lent. One wanted to bake, one wanted to boil, they had a fight & broke some furniture then compromised and did both using the broken wood for the fire. Even less likely, but who cares? I like this story best.

These days, it tends to be made on Mothering Sunday or Easter Sunday, and is simply a baked spiced fruit cake with marzipan. Tasty as a cake, better as a cocktail!

One website writing about the history of the cake led with the fact that it’s an anagram of Anemic Elks. Inspiring.