[7][8] However, an early reference to decorating with marzipan balls appears in May Byron's Pot-Luck Cookery,[9][10] but with no mention of this symbolism, and her version may well be derived from earlier styles, which were sometimes crenelated.

[11] Simnel cake is a light fruitcake, generally made from the following ingredients: white flour, sugar, butter, eggs, fragrant spices, dried fruits, zest and candied peel.

[12] Most recipes require at least 90 minutes of cooking, and advise using several layers of baking parchment to line the tin, and sometimes brown paper wrapped around the outside to stop the marzipan burning.

Bread regulations of the time suggest they were boiled and then baked, a technique which led to an invention myth, in circulation from at least 1745 until the 1930s,[14][15] whereby a mythical couple, Simon and Nelly, fall out over making a Simnel.

They are raised cakes, the crust of which is made of fine flour and water, with sufficient saffron to give it a deep yellow colour, and the interior is filled with the materials of a very rich plum-cake, with plenty of candied lemon peel, and other good things.