Vintage Caraway Seed Cake {anyone for tea?}
This is a cake I saw in my vintage cake book that I am baking my way through and just had to make. It just sounded so completely different and I really didn’t know what to expect.
I did read up on Caraway Seed and found that it has a slight anise flavor to it, but I didn’t read up on the origins of the cake until after I had made it and tried it.
It took me a couple bites of the cake to figure out what I thought about it. I liked it, but it was kind of strange. But I thought to myself, it must be a tea cake. It just tastes like something you would have at tea.
That’s why I looked up the history of the seed cake.
According to Wikipedia, it was a popular cake in Great Britain to make after the harvest of the spring wheat. Caraway seeds were so popular that they were used in about 14 different recipes and were also popular in Ireland and Wales.
Of course having already made the cake, I found out it is traditionally made in a loaf pan. I had made it in a square 8×8 pan….whoops.
I also added the whipped cream on a whim because I thought it tasted good – don’t all cakes taste good with whipped cream? But it’s not really supposed to have whipped cream on it. Ha! Oh well….I liked it that way.
This was an easy cake to make and I thoroughly enjoyed it and did end up having a slice with a bit of tea and it was very tasty.
- 1½ cups sifted flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons caraway seeds
- ¼ cup lard (I didn't have any lard so used cold butter)
- ¾ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- Preheat your oven to 350˚ and prepare a 10/6/1½ inch pan (or a loaf pan) by smearing soft butter into it and set aside.
- Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium mixing bowl.
- Mix in the caraway seeds.
- With a pastry blender, cut in the lard (or butter).
- In a small bowl combine the milk, vanilla and egg. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture all at once. Mix until the ingredients are moistened and turn into the prepared pan.
- Sprinkle the two tablespoons of granulated sugar over the top and bake, about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in pan on a cooling rack.
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