CARAWAY...

"Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead, have never watched them dance on a windy day..." -Shira Tamir

The battle of the Caraway Seed Cakes. It's here. My mother used to bake caraway seed cakes every Fall, before she tackled Christmas Fruit cakes. Her fruitcakes always left something to be desired, but the seed cake was something to be  devoured on stormy, rainy days ,when the leaves came tumbling down.

This year I made two different cakes. One on the left is baked using a goldencake mix with lots of other ingredients, and the one on the left is from my mother/grandmother's old recipe. They were both taste tested afterwards. Drum roll please.....wait for it...

So, while the home made cake version sits and cools, it's time for some Caraway Seed trivia. Did you know caraway seed was used in Love potions, way back when, and was also used to ward off evil, during the time of superstition. Any child, liberally sprinkled with caraway seed was believed to be protected from harm.  Can you imagine?

In ancient Egypt it was used to calm upset stomachs, while the Romans ate the roots as a side dish. What we call "seeds" are technically small, fruits of the caraway seed plant. Now it's time to try the new version....here it is:

SOUR CREAM CARAWAY SEED CAKE ( using a cake mix)

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Prepare a bundt cake pan or 1 loaf pan sprayed with veggie spray.

1 box golden cake mix,  4 eggs , 1 cup sour cream

½ 1 cup oil,1 tsp vanilla extract,

Zest of one lemon or orange (Optional but it's SO good)

¼ cup sugar, 1/2 cup orange juice or water ( the juice is better)

2 tsp caraway seeds

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree..."-Emily Bronte

If using oranges or lemons, scrape the rind to gather as much zest as you wish....I used two oranges, because that's what I had in the fridge.

Mix all together with a wire whisk or large fork. Beat till well combined.

Plop into the loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes. I test it after 40 minutes to see how it is coming along. Every oven is different.  

"Is this not a true Autumn day? Just the melancholy I love that makes life and nature harmonize..." -George Eliot

I sliced up both cakes. Is that drum roll still going? Surprise.....the one using the cake mix was our favourite. Nicer crumb, more even, lovely taste. Mild caraway seed. My mother's version: stronger in caraway, more dense, like bread, rather than cake.  It makes really good toast, or croutons, by the way. 

"Autumn would come to this place of welcome, this place I would know to be home..."-Henry Rollins

"I loved Autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it..." -Lee Maynard

 
          "All at once, summer collapsed into Fall..." -Oscar Wilde
                                         

 Photographs 2025