FOOD IS very easy to take for granted and many religions recognise this, utilising the traditions of fasting to encourage adherents to remember the blessings in their food.

It’s also very easy to forget the rich history that lies in the origins of the food we eat.

The coming of the Easter holiday this weekend means for most of us a long lazy weekend and with it, plenty of time to get your baking skills into top gear.

And as spring is in the air what better time for your Easter baking to reflect this upturn in the seasons, with vibrant colours and bold flavours to match the spring shoots and blossoms making everything feel fresh and positive?

My Easter treat is always a homemade traditional Simnel cake with its two layers of golden marzipan, one in the actual centre of the cake, the other on top with the top layer toasted conventionally with 11 marzipan balls decorating the distinguished finished cake.

The story goes that the cake is eaten around Easter time to celebrate the end of Lent giving people a tasty treat.

Though not perhaps an Easter staple yet, I feel it has made a resurgence in recent years.

The marzipan balls are not only decorative and delicious but symbolic, to signify aspects of Christianity which represent the twelve apostles, minus Judas who betrayed Jesus. These are placed around the circular marzipan cake.

This tradition was developed late in the Victorian era, with the cake being baked on Laetare Sunday (also known as Mothering Sunday or refreshment Sunday) which falls in the middle of Lent.

On this day the fasting was relaxed and thus the cake could be eaten guilt-free. Allowed by their employers to make a simnel cake, many a young girl or boy in service at big houses or farms took them home to their long-suffering mothers on a rare holiday for a Mothering Sunday gift.

The word simnel comes from the Latin word Siminel which means fine wheaten flour made from the finest wheat you could buy.

A good Simnel cake should be lighter than its cousin the Christmas cake and with marzipan instead of icing, and made with lemons, dried fruits, peel and spices, giving the cake a burst of flavours. The hidden gooey layer of marzipan in the centre of the cake blends into the body of the cake very well.

But be warned, when toasting your apostles ensure you have no distractions from the kids when grilling the balls for that perfect golden colour.

These days the recipe is apparently very easy and simple to make, unlike the early complicated recipes when the bakers complained that there was too much hard work involved.

My modern version on this classic cake is quite good, and well worth the effort to bake this weekend. It will help you rejoice and celebrate the long Easter weekend break with your family and friends, making the perfect centerpiece for any table.

Happy Easter