This traditional fruit cake today is often associated with Easter. However, dating back to medieval times, it was a custom for girls in service to bake a Simnel cake for their mothers on Mothers Day, or Mothering Sunday. The original celebration of Mothering Sunday was the day that the devout parishioners went to the Mother Church of the parish or Cathedral to make offerings. During the 17th century the day became associated with mothers of a family, and became a holiday.
The cake itself is a fruit cake with a marzipan layer in the centre and on top. Originally it was a rich fruit cake with a crust of saffron flavoured flour and water paste. Different towns had their own twists on the basic recipe with possibly the most well known being the Shrewsbury Simnel cake.