A good slice of simnel Just as Christmas pudding is only eaten at Christmas, so hot cross buns were only eaten around Good Friday, until the supermarkets took to selling them all year round. That spoilt the treat, as it does for eternally available asparagus. The notion of a treat is important to seasonal foods, for a treat cannot be awarded to oneself: it must be a gift, or the stipulation of a celebratory day. Cynical self-treating spoils the rhythm of fast and feast, and leaves no keen appetite for culinary equivalents of Guy Fawkes" night. Simnel cake in particular needs careful looking forward to. It is so rich and solid. Rose Prince's recipe in today's Weekend deserves the respect of a healthy appetite: an afternoon planting potatoes (a traditional task around Good Friday, because of the phase of the moon) should do it. True, simnel cake was once made only for Mothering Sunday. Now it has drifted towards Easter. No longer is it encased in a hard shell of flour and water paste tinged with saffron (which in a former century made a puzzled recipient mistake one for a footstool). Nor is it essential to boil it before baking. The scalloped marzipan topping remains. This can be redeemed for marzipan-haters by careful choice of materials. Too often marzipan was a canary paste smelling like a cyanide crime scene. Something closer to the almond orchard makes all the difference. For now is the season for blossom and fresh air and fresh life - and a jolly good tea when we're back indoors.