Exceptionally good seed cake

This is a pleasingly old-fashioned, barely sweet cake. So old-fashioned, in fact, that it has been around since medieval times. Mrs Beeton had no fewer than four seed cake recipes in her cookbook, including a Common Seed Cake and a Very Good Seed Cake, which rather begs the question, who would choose the former?

SPICE SWITCH: To make a seedier cake, use 1 ½ tsp caraway seeds, 1 tsp aniseed and 1 tbsp poppy seeds. 

In A Whisper of Cardamom: Sweetly Spiced Recipes to Fall in Love With (Murdoch Books, £26), food writer and cook Eleanor Ford explores the creative use of spices in sweet dishes. These recipes from the book highlight the varied combinations that help to unlock distinctive flavour and fragrance.

Next, why not try more great recipes from the House & Garden recipe archive?