Lambert's Simnel?

Despite the fact that we are a completely non-religious family of free thinkers, every year I make a Simnel Cake. It has long been associated with Easter and before that with Mothering Sunday. The Lenten fast was preceded in pre-Christian times by the enforced privations of the long North European winter so it's hardly surprising that the new season's eggs and dairy products would be celebrated with a Spring binge by pagans and Christians alike.

What's special about the Simnel cake is the marzipan content: a layer through the middle and more on top, including the 11 apostles' balls which represent the disciples, minus the treacherous Judas of course. (Judas, it may be recalled, left another portion of his anatomy on an elder tree.)

The name for the cake appears to derive from the Latin word simila meaning fine flour. The only other Simnel that ever hit the headlines was Lambert Simnel, a 15th century baker's son whose princely looks caught the notice of an ambitious priest who trained up the lad as pretender to the throne of Henry VII. A puppet in the hands of the Tudor king's scheming opponents, the lad was 'crowned' in Ireland and then put in nominal command of an invading army - which King Henry defeated without much ado. Lambert was pardoned on account of his tender years and given a job in the royal kitchens, a role variously described as scullion, turnspit or pastrycook. He must have done well because he was later promoted to the post of king's falconer. It's tempting to conjecture that, given his family background in the bakery trade, young Lambert exonerated himself by inventing this cake for the royal tea table. However there is no evidence at all for this hypothesis.

[Many thanks for all the generous comments yesterday. In my usual innumerate fashion I had forgotten it was my 200th blip so it was a very pleasant surprise to get all the feedback. I am touched and gratified by all the interest in my blips.]