Classic Seed cake

I hate to shop in a hurry either I miss something from the list or I bring something new to the pantry. In such a situation, I grabbed the caraway seeds packet for kala jeera. Usually, Indian grocers have no exchange policies for their product, once billed. Imagine my biryani with caraway seeds in place of black cumin! The caraway seeds and Kala Jeera (black cumin) look alike. But both have an outstanding different aroma from each other- I wish there is sample of scratch and sniff in seeds package :)

 Do you know about caraway?

Caraway fruit is termed incorrectly as Caraway seeds. It looks like cumin but slightly curved at both end (crescent shape). It is called as cake seeds (கேக் விதை) in Tamil. The flavor is something similar to anise seeds, very aromatic and warm. It greatly helps digestion. 

Once I opened the packet, the smell reminded some Indian baked item. I couldn't figure out which one. I searched as usual and found the caraway seeds cake aka seed cake, an old fashioned cake in Britain, Ireland and Wales. Pretty similar to American pound cake, but the cake doesn't call for a pound of flour, butter, sugar, etc... Historically, this seed cake is baked by the farmers’ wives at the end of wheat sowing season and in Britain, it is largely served after a heavy meal. The seed eases the digestion.

As St.Patrick Day is celebrated tomorrow, let’s bake something Irish without dying the food green.

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Recipe Source: Nigel Slater's classic seed cake Ingredients A.P Flour: 1 cup + 1/4 cup Ground almond: 1/3 cup Butter: 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp Castor Sugar/icing sugar: 1 cup Large eggs: 3 Milk: 2 tbsp Baking Powder: 1 1/2 tsp Salt: 1/2 tsp Caraway seeds: 1 tsp Instruction: Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, ground almond and seeds together. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add one egg at the time and beat well. Add the flour, almond, seed mixture in butter and egg mixture and fold it. Add the milk in between the folding. Preheat the oven at 350 C and -grease a loaf pan and scoop the batter in pan and level with spoon. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until the inserted toothpick comes out clean(test). The cake is enjoyed alone with cup of tea, there is no need of any fruit and whipped cream accompaniment. The author note:"A pleasing seed cake is about how few seeds you add rather than how many. A pinch or two is all you need to flavor an entire cake." So don't increase the seed for this recipe

Happy St.Patrick Day