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

FOR the LOVE of TEA...."Caraway Seed Cake"

"I must drink lots of tea or I cannot work. Tea unleashes the potential that slumbers in the depths of my soul.." - Leo Tolstoy

CARAWAY SEED TEA CAKE (grandmother's recipe)

           This cake was also the favourite of William Wordsworth(the poet), and, apparently, his sister, Dorothy. It first appeared in the 1700's quickly becoming a staple for tea in later years. Largely forgotten these days; plain cake, kind of like a fragrant pound cake.

"Afternoon tea should be provided, with thin bread and butter, fancy pastries, Cake......." - Isabella Beeton "Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management" (1861)

Pinch salt                            2 ½ cups flour

¾ cup butter                      3 tsp baking powder

1 ¼ cups sugar                   ½ cup citron peel (optional)

½ cup milk                         ¼ cup grated orange peel

Dash almond extract           1 Tbsp caraway seeds

Dash vanilla extract

Beat all ingredients  together, quite vigorously . Don't be shy to mix it really well....

(The Caraway seed name come from the Arabic" al-karwiya", and dates back  to Egypt and Mesopotamia where caraway seeds were used to calm the digestive system.)

When you feel it is smooth,  plop  batter  into a greased, parchment lined loaf tin.

              "A party without cake, is just a meeting.." -Julia Childs

Bake at 320 degrees for about an hour. 

Check with a sharp knife to see if it is done.

Long ago, this cake was made to celebrate the end of the planting of spring wheat in the fields. My mother used to make this all the time, and we'd sit on the back steps with tea and warm slices of this cake.

" 'But I don't mind some seed cake if you have any!' (Balin) "Lots!" said Bilbo, scuttling off to the pantry to find two beautiful round seed cakes which he had baked...." -Tolkien  ( The Hobbit)

Will freeze for 3 months, if wrapped properly. ( You can even freeze separate slices...)

                                             
"With an eye made quiet by the power or harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things..."

                                                                                        - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

      ........................................1860's cookbook (reproduction) with Seed cake recipe

"Far from the world I walk, and from all care.." - Wordsworth

Photographs 2025

 

CARAWAY SEED CAKE

 One of my favourite things to  make is an old fashioned Caraway Seed cake. Many moons ago , my mother would make caraway seed biscuits , the forerunner to the cake. She said her mother would make them after sowing had been done  on the farm, in the spring.

Easy cake to make. Reminds me of  late Sunday afternoons when my mother would make  a seed cake, then slice it thickly, spread with butter ( yes butter), and serve  with tea to the church elder who would come on Sunday afternoons to deliver communion cards.

 First thing you need to do is mash up the margarine or butter, depending on which you prefer.

 Be sure to line a greased tin with parchment paper.

 The earliest mention of seed cake that I could find was from 1591.

 Popular in Victorian times as well.  The Victorians believed that the Seed Cake was a good thing to eat after a meal, not so much as a dessert, but because Caraway seeds have  digestive qualities. So they would stuff themselves with seed cake  accordingly.

 If you have the butter/margarine smushed up then add the sugar.

 Toss in a handful/tablespoonful, of caraway seeds.

 Then add the baking powder and cake flour.

 If you think the batter is too thick splash in a bit of water, or orange juice, or milk.

 Do not overmix. You can add grated orange peel or lemon peel if you wish. Gives it a fresh taste with the caraway.

 A side note: on reading some of the Victorian ideas about seed cake, my eye was drawn to another segment in one of old cook books, can't remember which one exactly, on how to get rid of rats/mice in the kitchen ( Circa 1890): Sprinkle cayenne pepper in their little mice homes. Or spread tar in front. They will stick to it. Then you will have no longer have mice prints in the flour.(Invaluable advice.)

 Plop batter into your prepared pan.

 Bake at 340 degrees till done. You will have to test it off and on. About 45 minutes.

 Then slice and share with some lucky people. Leave out a few crumbs for those mice.....