Easy simnel cake muffins filled with mixed dried fruit, a layer of marzipan, and flavoured with orange zest. All topped off with a smooth orange icing and a cluster of Cadbury mini eggs!
These muffins combine the rich, fruity flavor of a simnel cake with the convenience of a muffin, making them the perfect Easter treat. You might also like my recipe for hot cross bun bread and butter pudding recipe.
Light and fluffy (thanks to the buttermilk in the muffin batter), these gorgeous simnel cake muffins are perfectly portable, making them ideal for Easter parties, bake sales, and springtime picnics!
They are also much easier to make than a traditional simnel cake! I turn to this fantastic recipe every Easter so that I can experience all of the flavours of a traditional simnel cake (plus a few more!), without all of the hassle of actually making one!
👩🍳 Love Easter baking? Try my gooey creme egg brownies too!
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✔️ Why you'll love this recipe!
Here's why this is the best Easter muffin recipe!
- Light and fluffy muffins.
- Simnel cake flavour.
- Topped with chocolate mini eggs.
- Freezer friendly.
🛒 Ingredients
- Flour - plain white flour.
- Bicarbonate of Soda - the raising agent in these muffins.
- Caster Sugar - or swap with half light brown sugar and half caster sugar if you prefer a more caramelly flavour.
- Butter - unsalted and melted. Cool before mixing with the other wet ingredients.
- Buttermilk - helps give the muffins that light and fluffy texture. You can substitute it with natural yogurt if you prefer.
- Eggs - 2 large free-range eggs at room temperature.
- Marzipan - for a hidden centre of almondy goodness!
- Dried Mixed Fruit - I used raisins, sultanas, and chopped apricots.
- Orange - you'll need the zest for the muffin batter and the juice to make the icing.
- Icing Sugar - for the icing glaze.
- Mini Eggs - to decorate. Swap for another type of chocolate egg or even homemade marzipan eggs, if you prefer.
🔪 How to make simnel cake muffins
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post
One: Mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and caster sugar in a mixing bowl.
Two: In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, and buttermilk.
Three: Gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.
💡 Be careful not to overmix your muffins otherwise they will become tough and rubbery once baked!
Four: Fold in the dried mixed fruit and orange zest.
Five: Split the marzipan into 12 equal pieces and roll them into balls. Flatten down with the palm of your hand so you get a round disc that will fit inside the muffin case.
Six: Half fill the muffin cases with the muffin batter.
Seven: Top each with a marzipan disc then spoon over the rest of the batter so it is equally distributed.
Eight: Bake for 16-18 minutes until risen and golden. Ice with the orange icing once cooled, and top with mini eggs.
💭 Top tips
- If you can't find buttermilk in your local supermarket, you can make it really easily at home with just two ingredients (milk and lemon juice)! Follow my easy recipe for buttermilk to find out exactly how.
- If you prefer, you can substitute the buttermilk for 100ml of natural yogurt instead. Yogurt is thicker than buttermilk so you will need approximately one-third more to achieve the correct consistency and rise.
- To make the orange icing really smooth, sieve the icing sugar and use a small whisk to beat in the orange juice.
🍴 Serving suggestions
Take the simnel muffins on Spring picnics, pack into the kid's lunchboxes, or why not make them for a school or church bake sale?
I often make these muffins for large Easter gatherings with family, along with my gooey creme egg brownies and mini egg tiffin!
📖 Variations
Here are some ideas to make the simnel muffins your own!
- Flavour the Simnel muffins with lemon zest rather than orange zest, and make a lemon icing instead of an orange one.
- Use golden marzipan instead of white marzipan.
- Use different dried fruit such as glace cherries, pineapple, and candied peel, as well as the usual raisins and sultanas.
- Add a teaspoon of mixed spice to the muffin batter for a hint of spice!
- For a more traditional simnel muffin, top the muffins with homemade marzipan eggs rather than mini eggs. My kids prefer the mini eggs!
🥡 Storage
Store. The muffins will keep in an airtight container or cake tin for up to 3 days.
Freeze. The Easter muffins are freezer-friendly minus the icing. Make and bake the muffins and allow them to cool before placing them in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature, and then ice them as per the recipe.
❓ FAQs
Simnel cake is light fruitcake widely eaten in the UK and is associated with the Christian festival of Easter. It is distinguished by layers of marzipan or almond paste, typically one in the middle and one on top, and a set of eleven balls (symbolising the 12 apostles minus Judas Iscariot), made of the same paste. It was originally made for the fourth Sunday in Lent, but is now more commonly associated with Easter Sunday.
Traditional buttermilk is a thin, cloudy, slightly tart but buttery-tasting liquid that’s the by-product of churning cream to make butter. These days it is more commonly sold as a thick liquid (usually next to the cream in the supermarket), produced commercially by adding an acidifying bacteria to milk.
😋 More Easter baking recipes
- Mini Egg Cookie Bars
- Easter Rocky Road
- Creme Egg Blondies
- Mini Egg Cookies
- Easter Egg Nests
- Mini Egg Brownies
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Recipe
Simnel Cake Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- 140 g Caster Sugar
- 200 g Plain Flour
- 1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
- 70 ml Buttermilk or 100ml natural yogurt
- 140 g Butter melted and cooled
- 2 Eggs large
- 1 Orange zest only
- 200 g Mixed Dried Fruit
- 150 g Marzipan
For the icing
- 200 g Icing Sugar
- 1 Orange 2-3 tablespoon of juice
- 80 g Mini Eggs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°c (170 fan/ Gas 5) and line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
- Mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl.140 g Caster Sugar, 1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda, 200 g Plain Flour
- In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter (cooled), eggs, and buttermilk.70 ml Buttermilk, 140 g Butter, 2 Eggs
- Gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.
- Fold in the dried mixed fruit and orange zest.200 g Mixed Dried Fruit, 1 Orange
- Split the marzipan into 12 equal pieces and roll into balls. Flatten down with the palm of your hand so you get a round disc that will fit inside the muffin case.150 g Marzipan
- Half fill the muffin cases with the muffin batter.
- Top each with a marzipan disc then spoon over the rest of the batter so it is equally distributed.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes until risen and golden.
- For the icing, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and mix with 2 -3 tablespoon of orange juice. You want the icing to be quite thick so it sticks to the muffins, rather than runny.200 g Icing Sugar, 1 Orange
- Top with the mini eggs.80 g Mini Eggs
Notes
- If you can't find buttermilk in your local supermarket, you can make it really easily at home with just two ingredients (milk and lemon juice)! Follow my easy recipe for buttermilk to find out exactly how.
- If you prefer, you can substitute the buttermilk for 100ml of natural yogurt instead. Yogurt is thicker than buttermilk so you will need approximately one-third more to achieve the correct consistency and rise.
- To make the orange icing really smooth, sieve the icing sugar and use a small whisk to beat in the orange juice.
- Flavour the Simnel muffins with lemon zest rather than orange zest, and make a lemon icing instead of an orange one.
- Use golden marzipan instead of white marzipan.
- Use different dried fruit such as glace cherries, pineapple, and candied peel, as well as the usual raisins and sultanas.
- Add a teaspoon of mixed spice to the muffin batter for a hint of spice!
- For a more traditional simnel muffin, top the muffins with homemade marzipan eggs rather than mini eggs. My kids prefer the mini eggs!
- Store. The muffins will keep in an airtight container or cake tin for up to 3 days.
- Freeze. The Easter muffins are freezer-friendly minus the icing. Make and bake the muffins and allow to cool before placing them in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature, and then ice them as per the recipe.
Don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter to stay up to date with what's cooking in the Effortless Foodie kitchen! You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram too!
Dannii
I am so excited for all the mini egg recipes. These muffins look delicious.
Mahy
Ah, these are too cute not to make them this year. I love this recipe!
Claudia Lamascolo
Super cute and the kids will have a blast helping me make these they look amazing!
Gina
I am loving the flavor of these muffins and that orange icing, YUM! They are so adorable and will not last long in my house!