Skip to main content

Caraway Seed Cake


This is an old-fashioned traditional Irish recipe. I had no idea what to except since I've never had caraway seed cake before and the idea seemed odd. The cake was good and everyone that tried it liked it as well. Not too sweet and it grows on you! It is great with a cup of tea.


Caraway Seed Cake
Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 128.

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) butter (softened)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 TBS. caraway seeds
2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 eggs plus 3 egg yolks
1 cup milk
Finely grated rind of 2 large lemons

Adjust rack 1/3 from the bottom. Preheat oven to 350. Butter (or spray) a 9 x 3 1/2 inch tube pan and dust it with fine bread crumbs.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
Beat the butter to soften it a bit.
Add the vanilla.
Add the caraway seeds. Mix well.

Add the eggs...
and the egg yolks.
On lowest speed add one third of the flour mixture...
and then about 1/3 of the milk. Continue to alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk, ending with the flour.
Stir in the lemon rind.
Turn into the prepared pan.
Bake for 50 to 65 minutes. The cake is done when a tester comes out clean. Let the cake stand for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Place the cake on a large piece of wax paper in order to apply the glaze. 

Glaze

1 1/4 cups strained confectioners sugar
1 TBS. lemon juice
1 TBS. boiling water

Place all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth.

Pour over the hot cake.

Labels:

Comments

Katie (The Muffin Myth) said…
This looks great! I have an excessive amount of caraway seeds due to the Swedish word for caraway (kumin) and cumin (spis kumin) being extremely similar, and making the same mistake several times. Now I have something fun to do with it! Thanks for posting the recipe.
December 4, 2012 at 12:13 PM
Phillip Oliver said…
Thanks Katie for visiting and commenting. I hope it turns out good for you!
December 5, 2012 at 1:17 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Palm Beach Brownies with Chocolate Covered Mints

Palm Beach Brownies with Chocolate Covered Mints Source:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.) , pg. viii. I made these brownies again a few days ago and they were just as good as ever. This time I made half with York Peppermint Patties and the other half with Andes mints. There wasn't a noticeable difference in taste. The ones with the Andes mints were pretty with the mint green color but the ones with Yorks are equally pretty. When Maida Heatter's first book (the above-mentioned title) won the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame Award in 1998, she accepted her award on stage and began to toss out these brownies to the audience. Everybody clamored for one and went wild. The original recipe came from a local deli in her area and did not include the mints (that recipe is available in the first edition of this book). She tinkered with the recipe and added the mints which do not melt during baking. I've been itching to ...
9 comments
Read more

Mulattoes

Mulattoes Source:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.) , pg. 199. Of the hundreds of Maida Heatter cookie recipes, this may be the most famous. These are chunky but soft, extremely chocolaty,  full of nuts and chocolate chips. Sinfully delicious! They are easy to make. The trickiest part may be the baking time. After making them numerous times, I have learned to only bake them 10 or 11 minutes at the most, then remove them and allow them to sit on the hot baking pan for about 5 minutes. They will be extremely soft to the touch but eventually they firm up nicely.  I just use my hand mixer for these. Although the recipe states that it makes 18 large cookies, I find that the yield is slightly higher, even when making them fairly large. I use a tablespoon scoop to form the cookies. 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate 3 oz. (3/4 stick) butter 1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking pow...
12 comments
Read more

Frozen Chocolate Mousse

Source:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed.) , pg. 228. Here is a dessert sure to make any chocoholic swoon. Silky and decadent, this frozen mousse is like a rich chocolate ice cream. It is really easy to make - all the folding required will give you a workout but it is worth it! The crust can be made with crushed wafer cookies or you could even buy a ready-made crust. If doing your own, the instructions say to apply the crumbs around the sides of the pan (use a springform pan) but I did not do this - I just made a bottom layer. You will have to run a sharp knife around the pan before releasing the catch on the pan. The mousse is soft (even after freezing) and it will need to be put back in the freezer as soon as possible after serving. Maida Heatter recommends covering the mousse with either whipped cream, strawberries or chocolate leaves. I did not do either, it looks lovely without a topping. Crust 8 oz. choc...
5 comments
Read more