In his iconic book, ‘Swallows and Amazons’, Arthur Ransome mentions that the Swallows eat seed cake on Wild Cat Island. It was made at Holly Howe by Mrs Jackson and eaten by Titty when she was guarding the camp before Man Friday, in the form of her mother, arrived to help cook pemmican.
We baked a seed cake of our own using caraway seeds and almonds.
You will need:
4 large eggs
160g dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or good quality vanilla extract
80ml buttermilk
100g almond flour
180g soft butter
4 tablespoons of carraway seeds
160g self-raising flour
½ teaspoon salt
Topping:
Almond flakes
Caster sugar
Method:
- Grease a springform cake tin and preheat the oven to 180 degrees centrigrade
- Melt the butter a little and cream it with the dark brown sugar until smooth
3. Add the eggs and mix until combined
4. Add the vanilla bean paste, almond flour, self-raising flour, salt, carraway seeds, and buttermilk and mix until combined
5. Pour the cake mixture into the cake tin and spread it out evenly
6. Sprinkle the almond flakes and caster sugar over the cake
7. Bake until risen and golden brown. A fork inserted into the middle of the cake should come out clean
We ate it while it was still hot from the oven. It was delicious. Childhood memories came flooding back, taking me to Wild Cat Island and the day Man Friday arrived.
