A MOUTH-WATERING smell of baking cake and spices scents the air of the car park outside traditional fruit cake makers, Jenkins and Hustwit Limited.
Inside their Bishop Auckland kitchen unit, farmer’s wife and business founder Ann Hustwit and her team of nine are rising to the challenge of producing scores of their celebrated Simnel cakes in the build-up to Easter.
The cakes are distinctive in that they are decorated with 11 balls of marzipan, representing the 11 faithful disciples.
Traditionally eaten at Easter time, this deliciously moist, fruity cake bisected with its cummerbund of molten marzipan is enjoying something of a resurgence.
Well, I have to say it never went out of favour in our house!
As Ann explains, though, it’s good for business. “We’re having an extremely busy build-up to Easter.
“Over the last few years people have been snapping up more and more of our Simnel cakes. It is one of our top-selling fruit cakes. We were at the Bishop Auckland Food Festival last weekend and we completely sold out of them.”
Jenkins and Hustwit has made a name for itself with its quality cakes and puddings. Amongst the specialities are rich fruit cakes, Christmas cakes, celebration cakes, Christmas puddings and gluten-free cakes.
And it’s fitting that the Simnel cake, which has been enjoyed since medieval times for its sweetness and symbolic connections, has a history all of its own at Jenkins and Hustwit.
Ann explains: “The recipe we use is a Victorian one which was handed down through the family. It was my grandmother, Ann Teasdale, who passed her Simnel recipe on to my mother, who in turn passed it to me.”
And in keeping with old traditions and customs, Jenkins and Hustwit Simnel cakes just can’t be hurried.
The whole cake making process from start to finish takes over a month.
First the dried fruits, glace cherries, mixed peel, and almonds are soaked in spirit overnight to make them more succulent. This all enhances and deepens the flavour of the cakes.
Whisked fresh farm eggs, creamy English butter, flour, sugar, ground and flaked almonds, plus a further mix of Jenkins and Hustwit alchemy in the form of a secret spice blend is added to the soaked fruit.
The mix is then poured into cake tins, filling them half full. A slice of marzipan is popped into each tin, before being carefully topped with the cake mixture.
As the cake bakes, its marzipan layer bubbles and caramelises, running into the bottom part of the cake making it beautifully moist.
“It is a scrumptious cake,” says Ann. “It’s my personal favourite. The almonds give it a beautiful flavour.”
As well as being Ann’s personal favourite, Jenkins and Hustwit’s Simnel cake has also garnered praise from food and drink judges, winning a coveted trio of stars in the Great Taste Awards.
Once the cake has matured, it is topped with a covering of marzipan and decorated with the 11 rolled balls of marzipan representing Jesus’s true disciples. Judas, the traitor, is missing from the cake.
A blow torch is used to brown the marzipan topping before an Easter chick is placed in the centre of the cake symbolising Jesus and new life.
A former home economics teacher at Staindrop Comprehensive School in County Durham, Ann set up Jenkins and Hustwit with a colleague 20 years ago.
“I loved baking and my cakes were always very popular with friends, who jokingly said I should start my own business,” explains Ann.
“It actually seemed a lovely thing to do as I had always intended to have a business of my own and things evolved from there. By working hard we’ve built the business up to its current size.”
Ann started off making Christmas cakes in the kitchen of her County Durham farmhouse using family recipes that – like the Simnel cake – were passed down through the generations.
But before long, the business outgrew the farmhouse and Jenkins and Hustwit moved into the purpose-built kitchen they occupy today at Bishop Auckland.
Her team of staff, which swells to 12 at peak times, have been with her since the move to Bishop Auckland and are, she says, a vital ingredient of the business’s success.
“We love what we do and we like to make good, traditional cakes. Our Simnel cake is rather special and I’m sure a lot of that is down to the TLC that comes out of our bakery.
“Anyone suggesting we have a factory is corrected – we have a kitchen – we love what we do and we work as a team and I’m very lucky to have that.
“The entire team takes great pride in what they do.”
Ann is also a director of food and drink organisation, Northumbria Larder, of which Jenkins and Hustwit is a member.
Ann adds: “Northumbria Larder has been a tremendous asset to our business, and many others, offering phenomenal support.”
And asked what’s the best accompaniment to her famous Jenkins and Hustwit Simnel cake, Ann replies: “A nice cup of tea! Preferably Ringtons.”
Jenkins and Hustwit Simnel cake is available directly from Jenkins and Hustwit Farmhouse Fruit Cakes, 3b Laurel Way, Bishop Auckland, County Durham or from stockists throughout the region including Fenwick, Newcastle; Moorhouse Farm Shop, Stannington; The Alnwick Deli and Knitsley Farm Shop, Consett. The 380g cake retails at £6.05, and the 850g cake is £8.25.
