When we were young, our Mum used to make what she (and now we) called ‘Seedy Cake’. I think it was just a basic Madeira Cake with caraway seeds thrown in; anyway, it was one of Dad’s favourites, but we all loved it too. If you’ve never tasted a caraway seed, they’re tiny, crescent-shaped seeds with a delicious liquorish flavour. This story of Mum’s seedy cake leads me nicely onto today’s baking adventure.
If you’ve been paying attention – 
– you’ll recall that recently I ventured into the world of Marmalade-making. I took to it like the proverbial duck; with the the only downside being that I now have the world’s largest stockpile of home-made Marmalade, and I’m a little concerned that I might not live long enough to get it all used up 😉
So here I am, looking for ways to use Marmalade that doesn’t include toast. I found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website. It called for poppy seeds, which I don’t have, hence the introduction of caraway seeds, and lovely memories of my Mum.
Caraway seeds!
It’s baked in a loaf tin, and is quite a large recipe, so if you only have the old-fashioned smallish loaf tins, then you might even get two loaves out of this. As it was, I used my largest loaf tin which measures 20x15cms and turned out a beautiful large cake (which falls when you take it out of the oven; it’s beautifully moist though)
Let’s give it a go..
EQUIPMENT:
- 1 large or two small loaf tins, Buttered and lined
- Hand-held electric whisk
- small saucepan
- medium sized bowl
- measuring jug
- weighing scales
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 tablespoons of well-set Marmalade
- 150g of natural yoghurt
- 200g self-raising flour
- 1/2 a teaspoon of Baking Powder
- 125g golden caster sugar
- 125g softened butter
- 3 eggs
- zest of an orange
- 2 teaspoons of either poppy seeds or caraway seeds
For the Sticky orange topping: (see NOTES)
- Juice of the zested orange
- 4-5 tablespoons of Marmalade
METHOD:
- Heat the oven to 160 regular/140Fan or Gas 3.
- Line the loaf tin, and leave to one side
- Put the marmalade into a small saucepan and heat very gently to loosen it up.
- When it’s warmed through, add the yoghurt and combine. Leave to cool.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl,
- Add the sugar, eggs, butter, orange zest and caraway seeds, and beat well with the hand-held mixer until it all comes together.
- Then pour in the marmalade/yoghurt mixture and beat until it’s completely incorporated.
Adding the marmalade/yoghurt mixture.
- Pour the mixture (it will be fairly loose – this is normal) into the prepared tin and put into the oven immediately. Don’t bother to level it, just leave it whatever way the batter falls.
- Cook for an hour to 1 hour, 10 minutes until it’s golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.
- Check it after 45 minutes and if you think it’s getting too brown, cover it with a sheet of baking parchment.
- Allow it to sit in the tin for 20 minutes after you’ve taken it out.
To make the topping:
- Heat the marmalade and orange juice together until it’s warmed through, then remove from the heat and stir it every now and then until it becomes sticky.
- Spoon it over the cake while the cake is still warm.
- If you don’t fancy this, you could make a drizzle-style icing with about 75g icing sugar and teaspoons of the orange juice added until you get a smooth but not too runny icing.
- Use a dessertspoon to drizzle it over the cold cake.
NOTES:
- This is a very fragile cake while it’s still warm – it’s super-light and is nothing like a Madeira.
- I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest keeping it in the tin until it’s almost fully cold.
- Mine over-browned a bit, however I’m not worried about that for a first effort. But do check at about the 40 minute stage and cover with baking parchment if required.
- It also falls a bit when you take it out of the oven, and I’m going out on another limb here and suggesting my delicate orange drizzle icing rather than the sticky one. It means that I’m only using half as much Marmalade as I thought I would, but hey, that’s life
- I love caraway seeds, but I’ll definitely give the poppy seeds a go sometime.
I started writing down recipes in an old copybook when I was about 16. With 6 children at home, my Mother was always glad of a hand in the kitchen, and really allowed us to experiment - as long as we washed up afterwards, and left the kitchen immaculate! Having a tidy kitchen has followed me through my life, as has the habit of writing down my favourite recipes; except that these days I write them for my website, and add photographs when I can. The website really started when it occurred to me that my daughter might like to have these recipes when I've forgotten them. In my early days of cooking for family and friends, I used to phone my Mum all the time to ask her for the recipe for some of our favourite family dinners. She rarely had a recipe to hand - I think, like me, she made a lot of it up as she went along.. So welcome to Eating for Ireland - these are the recipes that my friends and family having been eating these past 40 years.. yes, I truly am ancient! They are tried and tested, and have worked for me for all that time - I have updated them as new ingredients became available - I really hope you'll find something that you can make into a family favourite of your own. You don't have to tell anyone where you found these great new dishes that you're serving up - it can be our little secret, but I'd really love it if you could give me a sneaky 'follow' on Facebook and Instagram.. So off you go - have a good rummage around, you're bound to find something new! My sincere thanks to all of you who have found a recipe that you liked and dropped me a line to tell me - I really do love to hear from you! Happy Cooking! Becks xx