Recipe for
Old English Seed Cake
If you've never tasted a seed cake you could be forgiven for assuming it's more suited to our feathered friends. But forget all thoughts of beaks and wings and think more of fragrant, delicious and spicy cake. Years ago, when mothers baked year-round, not just for special occasions, seed cake was one of the most popular family-friendly cakes around. It's the sort of cake that you'd expect to find in a village bakery or on a farmhouse tea table. It's moist, rich yet light and perfect with a cup of tea.
115g / 4 oz butter
115g / 4 oz caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
175g / self raising flour
50g / 2oz ground almonds
50g / 2 oz chopped mixed peel
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
Preheat your oven to 160 degrees centigrade / GM3
Grease & line a 15cm / 6 in cake tin.
Cream butter & sugar together until light & fluffy. Gradually add eggs & flour a little at a time, until evenly mixed. Fold in the remaining ingredients & spoon into cake tin.
Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 1 hour or until the top spings back when gently pressed, or a skewer inserted into the middle comes out cleanlly.
Leave to cool in its tin for half an hour, at which point you should turn the cake onto a rack & allow to become completely cold.
