Original Receipt from 'Pot-luck; or, The British home cookery book' by May Byron (Byron 1914)860. SIMNEL CAKE (Gloucestershire)
Take a quarter of a pound of flour, three ounces of mixed peel, quarter of a pound of butter, three good-sized eggs, quarter of a pound of castor sugar, two ounces of ground almonds, three-quarters of a pound of currants. Beat butter to a cream, add sugar and beaten eggs gradually, and work well together. Add flour sifted; beat thoroughly, then add remaining ingredients. Line a tin with greased paper, pour in mixture, and bake in gentle oven from two to three hours. When cold, make some almond paste. Put a layer on top of cake. Form remainder into round balls. Brush the cake over with white of egg and dust with castor sugar. Set in a cool oven till balls are lightly browned, and decorate with crystallised fruits.
...and for other Simnel Cakes, see:
Devizes Simnel Cake
Gloucester Simnel Cake
Shrewsbury Simnel Cake
Bury Simnel Cake