English Seed Cake

A slightly sweet, soft cake with a hint of caraway — that’s what you’ll get in every bite of English Seed Cake!  Excellent for afternoon tea or light dessert.  Enjoy it for your next break!

What is seed cake?

It’s a traditional (ancient!) English cake and quite popular during the Victorian era.

It’s a treat you can easily prepare, and all the ingredients are pantry staples EXCEPT for the caraway seeds.

But you cannot skip that because the seeds give the cake its tempting aroma and distinct taste.  

Caraway seeds for the British kitchen are almost equivalent to cardamom seeds in Swedish cooking —- a well-loved ingredient reminiscent of home.

But hang on a second; you must go easy on adding caraway seeds when preparing this cake!  

Remember that it should be a ‘subtle’ flavor — it should not overpower its traditional pairing, a cup of tea. 🙂

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Ingredients

• Flour – you only need all-purpose flour for this seed cake recipe.

• Butter – unsalted and softened.

• Sugar – I strongly suggest using caster or fine white sugar when making this cake.

• Eggs – medium-sized (63 to 73 grams per piece) and at room temperature.

• Caraway seeds – note that you need to use seeds (as shown in the image above), not caraway in powder form.

• Baking powder & vanilla extract – just use your favorite brands

Preparation

Start making English seed cake by preheating your oven to 180°C (350°F).

Grease a 2-pound loaf pan with butter, dust it with a bit of flour, then set it aside.

Using a large mixing bowl, combine softened butter and sugar.

Mix until you get a creamy texture.

Add the eggs one at a time — continuing to mix in between each addition.

Once all the eggs have been added, strain and add the flour and baking powder.

Add the caraway seeds and vanilla extract.

Fold gently into the cake batter — just enough to combine with the rest of the ingredients.

Pour the English seed cake batter into the prepared pan from earlier.

Sprinkle more caraway seeds on top.

Place the loaf pan in the lower part of the oven for forty to forty-five minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cake.

Remove from the oven and set aside for about fifteen minutes to cool.

Your English seed cake is now ready for serving!

Helpful tips

• When you cannot find any caster sugar, pulse your regular granulated sugar in a food processor repeatedly until you get a finer texture.

• Remember not to overmix — just enough to combine everything in the cake batter.

• Use an angled spatula to spread and level the top of the cake before placing the pan in the oven.

• Make sure you use a serrated knife to cut a portion of the cake.  

A regular kitchen knife will result in an uneven slice, potentially breaking the edges of the cake.

Recipe variation

• Whisky.  You can add a bit of whisky with the vanilla extract or skip the vanilla entirely — it’s all up to you.

• Almonds.  Some add ground almonds to their batter as well.  You can also give that a try if you like almonds.

• Other types of seeds.  Do not substitute anything else for caraway seeds; do not use their powder form, either.

So how about it?  Give this recipe for seed cake a try this weekend! 🙂

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