Simnel Cake is a light fruit cake with a layer of almond paste (marzipan) baked in the centre of the cake for added moisture. Traditionally, the top of the cake is decorated with eleven balls of marzipan arranged around the exterior of the cake to represent the eleven true disciple of Jesus (Judas is omitted). Sometimes there may be a twelfth ball of marzipan placed in the centre of the cake to represent Jesus.. It is a quintessential English and Irish tradition.
Courtesy of top celebrity TV chef Edward Hayden.