Books and cakes - 64

    "Far from downstairs in the hall came the sound of the grandfather clock striking. It struck two, and Mrs. Bartholomew - who seemed to understand its language - said the hour must be eleven. Tom's aunt must be wondering where he was. Tom went downstairs to ask whether he might take a mid-morning cup of tea with Mrs. Bartholomew. Aunt Gwen was too much surprised to object or even to question him.

    He came back to Mrs. Bartholomew, and she had just brewed the tea and brought out seedcake to eat with it. Over this, they settled down to talk of the garden."

    To go with Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce (which we're talking about here), I made a seed cake using Nigel Slater's recipe but with Delia's topping. Readers with long memories may recall that seed cake was the chosen accompaniment for Sue Gee's excellent novel The Mysteries of Glass, and Delia's recipe gave a fine result; I had it in mind when I read the following from Nigel S.:

    "A pleasing seed cake is about how few seeds you add rather than how many. A pinch or two is all you need to flavour an entire cake. Caraway seeds are particularly pervasive, and too many will introduce a medicinal, musty quality to your baking."

    I followed Delia and put in two teaspoons of the seeds, and there's nothing musty or medicinal about it!

Comments

[Sue]

I've only made seed cake once before, it wasn't Delia's recipe but it was good. It was years ago and I still have the caraway seeds because I've never used them for anything else. I wonder if they are still good?

I'm often tempted to recreate meals described in books.

[Cornflower]

Mine are quite old and they are fine, but maybe crushing a few in a mortar would be a reasonable test of their freshness?

[Darlene]

Oh yum! I've made a recipe called 'Hobbity Seed Cake' which includes cinnamon. Did Bilbo have a thing for cinnamon?

[Anji]

Thanks for the virtual cup of tea and slice of cake-delicious! It's a perfect thing to nibble on while we have our discussion.

[Cornflower]

I love the name, and I'm sure I'd love the taste, Darlene. As to hobbit favourites, here's a fun post: http://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/pop-culture/article/what-hobbits-like-to-eat

[Cornflower]

It has gone down well here, so much so that I think I shall have to make another soon.