A cake designed to keep lovers together...

Caraway seeds (not exactly a seed but a fruit comprised of crescent shaped achenes)  are, according to folk lore, designed to keep lovers together, or to prevent the theft of any object, including one supposes that hearts are not stolen and fidelity is guarded!

It is the CCC today.  I missed the April event but realistically was too busy with family visits and imminent travel.

The theme this month is VINTAGE cakes.  My first thought was Caraway Seed cake so didn't bother thinking what else I could make.  I wasn't prepared to fuss about with Brandenburg or Angel Layer Cake which I made many years ago.  I'd made gingerbread but not yet a fruit cake for CCC!

So... this Old Fashioned Lovers Seed Cake would be just the ticket! It would be interesting as I had not made one for maybe thirty or forty years!  Thanks to the wonderful web I learned a great deal, some of which I once knew but had forgotten.  Ah... caraway ... wasn't that in the medication we used to give as a colic treatment to babes in the 1970s?  It certainly had that taste! Caraway belongs to the Umbelliferae family and is related to cumin, fennel and anise.
These are three websites that give
1. good recipes including a gorgeous recipe for Courgette and Caraway Seed cake... very Modern!!!  2. good botanical information....  and 
3. good encyclopaedic info all for caraway seeds.

I think it must be the next superfood as evidently it is rich in

- minerals including magnesium, calcium, potassium, selenium and zinc, 

- vitamins A E C and B 

- anti-oxidants,

They are a rich source of fibre and can bind toxins together to protect (not cure!) colon mucus membranes from cancers and lower cholesterol levels.

They can be used as a cold remedy or for bronchitis,

for bad breath as a mouth wash

and assist digestive problems such as IBS and as an anti flatulent!

So… a good little seed it is….

Here is my recipe for a "Vintage Old Fashioned Lovers Caraway Seed Cake":

Cream 175g margarine or butter with 175g sugar. Whisk 3 eggs separately then mix into the creamed mixture, with 200g flour, 50g ground almonds, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 2 teaspoons caraway seeds.  Bake in oven about 160C for apx an hour.  Ready when an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Yesterday
I had a baking afternoon as I needed a cake for today,  plus a gluten free version for a coeliac and one for me, (lower three in the pic)  a fruit cake to donate to and express my gratitude to the neighbour who mowed my long grass (on the board),  a fruit cake (in foil to be gifted to a friend) and a fruit cake for 'I know a man who can' (on the plate). He is arriving in one week's time to help me renovate the kitchen  which is very 1980s. VINTAGE is not the word!  Yikes company coming!