A Nice Useful Cake

Ok, so I'll be honest with you guys. When I started choosing vintage recipes for my final major project, I wanted to choose recipes that I hadn't heard of before, but also that looked enticing and, most importantly, yummy. Looking at the recipe, these cake seemed fairly ordinary, but I just couldn't resist making a cake who's title was its purpose, not its flavour. Now, the original recipe calls for candied peel and currants, but I'm not a big fan of candied peel, so I followed the instructions at the end of the recipe that went as follows: "The currants and candied peel may be omitted, and a little lemon or almond flavouring substituted for them: made in this manner, the cake will be found very good." And it was indeed a good cake! Granted, it is very large and a little denser than your modern day cake but served warm with a little cream, it was actually very nice, and not overpoweringly sweet. Not only this, but the chopped almonds provided a nice texture that you don't usually get in cakes.

Here is the original recipe that I was working with:

A Nice Useful Cake

Bare Necessities:
4oz/115g Butter
4oz/115g Sugar
1/2tsp Lemon Essence
1lb/450g Plain Flour
2tsp Baking Powder
3 Eggs
1cup/8fl.oz/250ml Milk
2oz/60g Chopped Almonds

1. Pre-heat the oven to 320F/160C.
2. Grease and line a cake tin.
3. Mix together all of the ingredients until fully combined and well mixed.
4. Pour the mixture into the tin.
5. Pop it in the oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
6. Slice up and enjoy!

Caraway Seed Cake

I should say now that I love caraway seeds. They have this inexplicable, somewhat medicinal taste, and I just love it baked into bread. I should also say that, until now, I regarded this as a purely savoury spice, so when I saw this recipe for a sweet cake flavoured with caraway seeds, I knew I had to try it. Right up until the cake went in the oven, I could smell the caraway seeds and I was convinced it wasn't going to work. But once it started cooking, the smell changed to what I can only describe as a sweet version of the original caraway smell. This cake has a really subtle, yet incredibly addictive taste to it and I had two slices before I'd even finished cleaning up!

Here's the original recipe I was working with:

Caraway Seed Cake

Bare Necessities:
8oz/225g Plain Flour
4oz/115g Butter
4oz/115g Sugar
2 Eggs
2tsp Caraway Seeds
1tsp Baking Powder
1tbsp Milk

1. Pre-heat the oven to 320F/160C.
2. Grease and line a cake tin.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar.
4. Gradually beat in the eggs and milk.
5. Stir in the flour, baking powder and caraway seeds until fully combined.
6. Pour the mixture into a tin and pop in the oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
7. Slice up and enjoy!