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!