Sharp zingy lemon cakes with a light sponge. The subtle notes of cardamom in these Twelfth Night cakes add depth and the marzipan melts to give a certain sweet almondy stickiness. Eminently suitable to celebrate Twelfth Night or any other.
Every year I mean to mark Twelfth Night by making a special cake and every year I manage not to do it – until now. When it comes to cake, I associate Twelfth Night with marzipan, so although I didn’t intend to make a traditional King Cake or similar this year, I did want to include almond paste. And as I still had plenty of lemons left from my 3pFruits box, lemon marzipan cakes it was to be.
Twelfth Night Cakes
Twelfth Night is the last day of Christmas and is traditionally the day the festive decorations are taken down in the UK. It celebrates Epiphany Eve on the 5th January. Epiphany falls on the 6th January and is the day the three kings visited the newly born Jesus.
As well as consuming the hot and spicy punch called wassail, a cake used to be baked with a bean stuck inside it. Whoever got the bean became King for the rest of the day. This has largely died out here, although the custom is still alive in many parts of Europe, especially France and Spain.
For a more traditional French king cake or galette des rois, head over to my recipe for a vegan version.
I ended up adapting Ruby Tandoh’s recipe for lemon & marzipan cupcakes from her book Crumb; it had been tempting me for some time. However, in my eyes, these are not cupcakes. Cupcakes have some sort of icing on top and these ones don’t. There is, however, plenty going on without it.
I made them a bit more lemony than Ruby, included one of my favourite spices, cardamom and changed a few other ingredients. The result was superb: a definite lemony zing and sharpness with subtle notes of cardamom coming through and bursts of sweet caramelised marzipan.
Turns out these lemon marzipan cakes make the perfect bake for Twelfth Night. There are twelve cakes, they’re quick to bake, taste delicious and you can easily add a “king” sign to one of them without anyone being the wiser.
But if you do hide a bean, or anything else, do let people know to look out for one. You really don’t want anyone choking on your Twelfth Night cakes.
Other Recipes for Twelfth Night Cakes You Might Like
- Galette des rois via David Lebovitz
- Fig, lemon & marzipan bundt cake via Tin and Thyme
- Rosca de reyes via Lavender and Lovage
- Stollen cakes via Tin and Thyme
- Vegan galette des rois via Tin and Thyme
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these Twelfth Night cakes, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more recipes with marzipan, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Twelfth Night Cakes. PIN IT.
Twelfth Night Cakes – The Recipe
Twelfth Night Lemon Cardamom Marzipan Cakes
Ingredients
- 125 g unsalted butter
- 75 g golden caster sugar (I used cardamom sugar)
- 3 cardamom pods seeds extracted and ground
- 1 lemon organic or unwaxed
- 60 g wholemeal flour
- 60 g plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 60 g ground almonds
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 200 g marzipan half grated, half cut into small cubes
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Grate in the zest of the lemon, add the ground cardamom and cream a bit more.
- Beat in the eggs, one by one.
- Sift in the dry ingredients, discarding any particularly large bits of bran left in the sieve and stir.
- Juice the lemon and stir in gently with the grated marzipan until everything is just combined.
- Gently stir in the cubed marzipan.
- Spoon into twelve cupcake cases and bake at 180℃ (350℉, Gas 4) for about 20 minutes or until the cakes are golden and well risen.
- Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
These little lemon and cardamom cakes are a great way to use up leftover Christmas marzipan. As such I’m sending them to Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary for the No Waste Food Challenge.
For similar reasons, these Twelfth Night cakes go to Love Cake over at JibberJabberUK.
I don’t think I can claim these cakes are healthy, but they do include lemon. So I’m sending them off to Kat at Baking Explorer and Cakeyboi for this month’s Treat Petite where the theme is fruit and veg.
Ness says
I love marzipan so it is rare I have any left as I tend to scoff the leftovers! I always mean to make for Twelfth Night but never get round to it but these look like something I can whip up. I think they would also work well at Easter. I always think of Easter and lemons!
Choclette says
Yes Ness, you’re right about Easter. The yellow of lemons is a good fit and of course marzipan is too.
the caked crusader says
Love marzipan baked into a cake – it adds such richness.
Choclette says
I’m totally with you there CC 🙂
Jacqueline Meldrum says
Oh how I wish I liked marzipan. These look so good. Stumbled, yummed and tweeted.
Choclette says
Oh yes, I forgot you had a thing about marzipan Jac – but it’s so delicious 😉
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
Ooooohhhh lovely! Marzipan in lemony cake sounds lush, especially with a hint of cardamom. Perfectly golden and beautifully moist…… bet they didn’t last long!
Choclette says
You know us too well Kate. Er, no, they didn’t last long 😉
Johanna @ Green Gourmet Giraffe says
sounds lovely – love marzipan in cakes – I liked the idea of celebrating the epiphany but this year I was so busy I could barely get my christmas decorations off the tree and had to take the rest down the next day. I imagine that people would probably sue over the bean in the king cake if they broke a tooth these days so it is just another public liability issue 🙂
Choclette says
Haha, you’re probably right Johanna. How times change. Yes marzipan gives such a nice sticky sort of texture in cakes as well as good flavour. Hope things have calmed down for you a bit.
Nayna Kanabar says
What a great reason to bake a cake as if anyone really needs an excuse to bake a cake!!! I love your flavours lemon and cardamom.
Choclette says
Thanks Nayna, no real excuses needed to bake a cake here 😉
Sarah James says
What a great way to use up leftover marzipan, I love the sound of cardamom and lemon, delicious.
Choclette says
I’ve made many a cardamom and lemon bake, it really is a lovely combination.
Cathy @ Planet Veggie says
Thanks for the history lesson! Your cakes look fab and the combination of lemon and marzipan sounds gorgeous.
Choclette says
Haha Cathy, I used to love history at school, but sadly, I’ve forgotten far more than I ever knew. Luckily, the cake flavours were fab.
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
The flavours in these sound lovely – the perfect thing to serve with a cup of tea 🙂
Choclette says
Yep, I can attest these went very well with a cup of tea Becca 😉
Chris @thinlyspread says
What a wonderful combination of flavours, I’m on my way – pop the kettle on 😉
Choclette says
You’re late Chris 😉
Dom says
oh yes…. Lemon, cardamom and ground almond. I love the texture. Very nice… can I have one now please?
Choclette says
If you’d just like to pop round Dom, I’m sure I can spare you one 😉
Elizabeth says
Oh this sounds amazing! I could go one of these with my coffee right now. It feels like absolutely forever since I last had cake (I’m on a fitness mission!). Thank you for linking up with the No Waste Food Challenge – there’s a new logo too, for the new year! 🙂
Choclette says
The excuse is, if ever you needed one, that the cakes are just getting rid of surplus Christmas ingredients!
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
I love the combo of flavour of those little treats. They look so beautiful and tasty.
Choclette says
Thanks Angie, I’m sucker for all of these flavours and definitely for marzipan.
Corina says
I am such a fan of marzipan and these cupcakes are an inspired way of using up the leftovers after making a Christmas cake. I love the lemon and cardamom flavours in them too.
Choclette says
Thanks Corina, I’m a bit of a marzipan fan too 🙂
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
Ooh these sound glorious, flavours when I adore. I must admit that I’ve never heard of a Wassail cake – it sounds very interesting., nor have I ever made a Twelfth Night Cake, I’ll have to try to remedy that next year!
Angela x
Choclette says
Thank you Angela. A Wassail cake sounds like a lovely idea – I might borrow that idea for next year 😉
Susan says
Cardamom is one of the most under rated spices there are … combine it with almonds and it really does shine! I’ve found it lovely in some Swedish cake recipes that I found in an old cook book of Scandinavian cuisine. Your little cakes look delish!
Choclette says
Hello Susan, lovely to hear from you. Happy New Year. I wonder why the Scandinavians cottoned on to cardamom and we never did in the UK. Luckily things are changing now.
Phil in the Kitchen says
I greatly admire the fact that you made a 12th night cake. I used to bake something years ago and I always mean to do it again but never do. I think it’s because everyone I know is on a diet in January and refuses to eat cake. I’m currently more than a little obsessed by cardamom in cakes so this is definitely for me. The flavours are just right for this time of winter somehow.
Choclette says
Haha Phil, it’s taken me long enough and of course it’s by no means a traditional one. As for diet, that’s a dirty word in our household 😉
Nadia's Healthy Kitchen says
Ooo they look delish! The flavour combination is interesting, I haven’t had anything that combines those 3 flavours, but I imagine they go really well together 😀
Choclette says
Oh yes Nadia, you must try it. I’ve used lemon, almond and cardamom together many times and the combination is a real winner.
lisa says
I’d seen a few twelfth night posts but not realised what it was! Thanks to your post now I do! These sound fab, I love lemon and cardamom, perfect combination. x
Choclette says
Thanks Lisa, it’s a really big celebration in some parts of the world, but seems to be mostly forgotten over here.
Alicia (foodycat) says
I know exactly what you mean about *meaning* to do something for 12th Night! Only… I never do. These sound so delicious though!
Choclette says
Thanks Alicia. My life is paved with *meaning*!!!
Lucy @ BakingQueen74 says
Love the sound of these and I have loads of leftover marzipan – result!
Choclette says
Go for it Lucy, it sounds as though you have no excuse 😉
Heidi Roberts says
The little cakes look really lovely, anything with marzipan gets my interest!
Choclette says
Thanks Heidi, I’m a big marzipan fan too.
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
I love the mixture of flavours that you’ve used and those bright cupcake cases are fantastic! Thanks for entering into Treat Petite.
Choclette says
Thanks Kat. These are my favourite cases, but I bought them years ago and haven’t come across any similar since.
Henk Kooiman says
This is my kind of cake ! Next comment will be about my experience having made them 😉
Choclette says
Excellent Henk. I look forward to hearing your thoughts 🙂