Old-Fashioned Seed Cake

Vegan seed cake on a vintage tray with pink flower pattern, antique cake knife to side, flower patterned teapot, sugar dish, milk jug, and tea cup and saucer to side, crochet tablecloth background.

Course: Afternoon tea, Dessert, picnic, Snack, Supper

Cuisine: British, English

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1

Servings: -10 slices

Calories: 242kcal

Author: Jacq

This Old-Fashioned English Seed Cake is egg-free and dairy-free, but is prepared with everyday pantry ingredients, and has all the flavours and textures of a classic seed cake - soft, spongy, fluffy, moist, sweet, buttery - with similarities to a Madeira or Pound Cake. As this is a Classic English Seed Cake it contains caraway seeds, but if preferred switch these out and go with poppy seeds for an Old-Fashioned Poppy Seed Cake.

Print Recipe

US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Jug or small bowl
2Ib loaf pan around [9-10 x 5½ x 2½ inch] [25 x 14 x 6 cm] in size, and lined with parchment or baking paper
Mixing bowl
electric hand whisk or use a mixing spoon and mix by hand
sieve
mixing spoon
cooling rack

Ingredients

Vegan buttermilk:

220 millilitres milk [we use soya milk as due to its high protein content it curdles well, but you can use other plant-based milks if preferred, or if you have other dietary requirements use your usual milk]
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice [or apple cider vinegar]

Cake:

170 grams margarine or butter [use one suitable for baking, we used Stork baking spread]
140 grams granulated sugar [or castor sugar, [if using the cup measurement, measure out a generous ⅔ of a cup of sugar!]
210 grams self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 teaspoons caraway seeds [or poppy seeds]
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 pinch salt

Instructions

Prepare the buttermilk:

Add the milk and lemon juice to a jug, stir well, and leave to curdle for at least 30 minutes. This step can be done a few hours before its required so it will be ready when needed.
220 millilitres milk, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 160 Fan, 180C, 350 Fahrenheit, Gas 4.

Grease the loaf pan with some extra margarine and line the pan with parchment or baking paper.
Add the margarine and sugar to the mixing bowl and with an electric hand whisk mix for about 45 seconds, or if using a mixing spoon beat the mixture by hand until fully incorporated.
170 grams margarine or butter, 140 grams granulated sugar
Next, pour in the buttermilk and whisk for about 20 seconds. The mixture will look curdled but it will be fine once the dry ingredients are added.
Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixing bowl directly onto the whisked ingredients. Add the salt, seeds, and lemon zest.
210 grams self-raising flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 4 teaspoons caraway seeds, 1 pinch salt, 2 teaspoons lemon zest
Mix everything together using a mixing spoon, and then scoop the cake mixture into the loaf pan. Level out the surface.
Place the loaf pan onto the middle oven shelf, and bake for 40-45 minutes until risen, golden brown, and firm to the touch. The sides of the cake will also be coming away from the edges of the loaf pan and a skewer or similar popped into the middle of the cake will come out clean when the cake is fully baked.
Fan ovens tend to bake quicker, than other types of oven, so check your cake at the 40 minute mark or a few minutes before.
[We used an electric oven, so baked at 180C, and our cake was ready after about 44 minutes.]
Once baked the cake will be golden all around the outsides and once cool the insides will be soft, fluffy, moist, and spongy with the outsides slightly chewy. The surface of the cake may have a thin crack in the middle and this is perfectly normal.
Leave the cake to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before carefully removing from the pan to a cooling wrack, and peeling down the parchment paper from the sides. Allow the cake to completely cool.

Notes

Nutritional information is for guidance only and is not an exact calculation as ingredients vary.
For the purposes of this recipe we used a 240ml US measuring cup which equalled 1 cup.
1 cup of our measured flour equaled 140grams, and half a cup equaled 70grams flour.
The flour was not sifted before measuring in the cup.
If using cup measurements, please note we used a ⅔ measuring cup of sugar and it was a generous measurement!
Weighing scales are highly recommended as they will provide the best baking outcomes.
Seed cake can be stored for 3-4 days wrapped in parchment paper and placed into a cake tin or container. Although, as this is a nice sweet moist cake if kept somewhere cool it is usually fine for a few extra days.
Of freeze, well wrapped, for 2-3 months.
If caraway seeds are not liked these can be replaced with poppy seeds.
Instead of lemon juice apple cider vinegar can be used.
Instead of lemon zest, orange or lime zest can be used.
Your usual milk will be fine for this cake.
We used soya milk does seem to make the best dairy-free buttermilk as if given enough time to react with the lemon juice [at least 30 minutes or longer] it becomes thick and curdled, which when used for cakes provides a good texture. However, almond milk is a close second.
We used Stork baking spread, but this can be replaced with your usual butter or margarine that you use for baking.
Poppy seeds can replace the caraway seeds.
See our recipe notes and FAQ section above for more useful information.

Nutrition