Caraway seeds are highly aromatic with a distinctive mild anise flavor that adds a welcome and subtle licorice hint to many dishes. Their taste is earthy, with a hint of citrus and pepper. Caraway thrives in any good, well drained soil, in a sunny spot.
Sown in autumn, they flower and set seed the following summer, sown in mid spring, it forms leaves in the first year, and flowers and seeds in its second. Once introduced to the garden, it self-seeds freely and without intervention.
The soft, fern-like leaves can be used in place of parsley or chervil, for snipping over salads, soups and sauces; they are much less pungent than the seeds. These develop from tall-stemmed, flat-headed white flower clusters and should be gathered in late summer, before they ripen and turn brown. Dried, as all herbs, they should be stored in airtight containers. Caraway seeds were popular in medieval times, used in cakes, biscuits and sweetmeats in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Falstaff is invited to ‘a pippin and a dish of caraways’.
Caraway Seed Cake
Ingredients
Seed Cake
Instructions
-
Seed Cake: Cut the softened butter into small pieces and beat with the sugar until creamy and fluffy, the coarseness of the sugar works away to create the smooth texture. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl set over a bain marie then whisk them into the butter and sugar mixture. Fold in the flour, and sift in the cloves and cinnamon, before blending in the caraway seeds.Keep the bain-marie heat gentle and make sure the bowl does not touch the simmering water. The aim is to warm the eggs slightly while whisking, not to cook or scramble them.
-
Spoon the mixture into a lined and buttered 10" cake tin, level the top and bake in the centre of the oven that has been preheated to 175°C for 2 hours. Remove the tin from the oven and leave the cake to shrink slightly from the sides before turning it out to cool on a wire rack.Ovens and tins vary, so check the centre towards the end of baking: a skewer should come out without wet batter. If the top is browning too quickly before the centre is baked, cover it loosely with foil.
Nutrition Facts
Servings 16
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories 467.51kcal
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 26.36g41%
- Saturated Fat 15.49g78%
- Cholesterol 151.13mg51%
- Sodium 36.95mg2%
- Potassium 120.88mg4%
- Total Carbohydrate 51.75g18%
- Dietary Fiber 2.20g9%
- Sugars 28.26g
- Protein 6.88g14%
- Vitamin C 0.73 mg
- Calcium 49.56 mg
- Iron 1.36 mg
- Vitamin D 0.75 IU
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
