Can someone answer a slightly odd question please ! I want to make a seed cake and have been told that the caraway seeds should be soaked briefly in boiling water before being added to the mixture. I have several recipes but this is not mentioned in any of them and sounds rather strange to me. Can someone enlighten me please !
lilyfield,
Apr 26, 1:26am
soaking them softens them a bit so you don't get hard bits between your teeth. I would do this- makes sense
sumstyle,
Apr 26, 1:27am
I never do.I like the crack and pop when I chew on them.
elliehen,
Apr 26, 1:33am
daleaway will know - she's the resident Seed Cake Expert ;)
indy95,
Apr 26, 1:35am
Well, now I have to make a decision ! I have never made a seed cake before as I don't like the flavour of caraway but I'm making this for someone else so I will soak them and hope the finished cake meets with approval. Thank you both for your help.
indy95,
Apr 26, 1:39am
Good gracious, I didn't know we had a seed cake expert !
daleaway,
Apr 26, 1:46am
Not me Ellie - I am but an humble questing pilgrim in the Vale of Seedcakery. Never heard of soaking the seeds, but I do recommend giving them a bit of a rough-up in a sieve (NOT over the mixture) first to remove the sharp sticky out bits some of them have.
daleaway,
Apr 26, 1:47am
PSlet us know how your recipe works out, Indy, you could be shining a light in our darkness.
indy95,
Apr 26, 1:51am
I will certainly do that, daleaway. IfI can be a shining light in anyone's darkness it will be a first and I will be more delighted than words can say !
elliehen,
Apr 26, 3:44am
Modesty becomes you, daleaway ;)
Here is an illustrious person who knows a lot about caraway and says this:
"It's associated with fidelity and was often used in love potions." ~Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Urrggg, he used lots of spice in his recipe, nup, not for me - Edmonds recipe is what my grandma made, and I luv it!
daleaway,
Apr 26, 4:34am
Thanks for that lovely article.
I've previously only put caraway seeds into coleslaw and Waldorf salad, but I might have go at his orange caraway cake recipe. Interesting concept. Except I won't, I'll use the whole orange cake recipe that I got off here that people seem to really go for. (Why on earth would he put mace and nutmeg into the same recipe! They're both part of the same berry and to most people they are indistinguishable.)
The other things I put caraway seeds into are little sponge drop biscuits made with lemon zest - you can put caraway or aniseed into those. But I haven't made them for years as they didn't have a very big fan base. ;))
elliehen,
Apr 26, 4:56am
Historically, caraway seeds have never had a big fan base among children, who used to liken the seeds to mouse turds.
daleaway,
Apr 26, 5:04am
All the more for me. heh heh.
indy95,
May 1, 5:13am
I am pleased to report that my cake worked out very well thanks to the advice I was given in here. I shook the seeds around in a sieve to remove the bits and soaked them for a few minutes before adding to the mixture and the resulting cake was very well received by the extremely particularperson I made it for.Daleaway, I hope that I have shed some light into the gloom of seed cakery darkness for you !
daleaway,
May 2, 12:43am
Thanks Indy - so pop your recipe up here to share. I'll give that soaking a go next time the Seed Cake Yearning puts in an appearance.
indy95,
May 2, 1:26am
I just used the Edmonds recipe and it is the first time in goodness knows how long that I have made anything from that book. You probably have it but here it is anyway:
125 g butter 125 g sugar 2 eggs 1 t whisky or brandy - optional. I used about a tbsp of my brandy based vanilla extract and soaked the seeds in that while I assembled everything else and did the creaming, then added the whole lot to the mixture. 175 g flour 1 t baking powder ( I used a well rounded tsp ) 1 T caraway seeds ( I used 2 tsps )
I'm sure you don't need to be told how to make the cake, daleaway and I baked it at 170C for about 50 mins.
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