A Bagginshield Cookbook
Recipe #1
Seed-Cake
...he found himself scuttling off, too, to the cellar to fill a pint beer-mug, and then to a pantry to fetch two beautiful round seed-cakes which he had baked that afternoon for his after-supper morsel. (The Hobbit, Ch. 1: "An Unexpected Party")
The Dwarves of the Company often sang the praises of Bilbo Baggins's famous Seed-Cake, which he had not only provided to them while they were visiting him for the first time in Bag End (much to his dismay at the time), but that he made also several times along the Road to Erebor, using whatever seeds were locally available. Strangely, Thorin himself did not taste the cake until the Company were hiding away at Bard's house in Laketown, wanting before that to save the rare sweet-treat for the other Dwarves, but willing finally to eat some when presented with enough to feed all of the Company, plus Bard and his family. It quickly became Thorin's favorite version of the commonly-made treat, and Bilbo often would get Thorin's opinion on which seeds to use in any given cake, because the Dwarf-King's tastes in that area tended to change often.
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The recipe below is one I developed after a bit of trial and error. Please feel free to take the recipe and distribute it as you like; no credit is necessary.
Seed-Cake
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-2 tbsp seeds (such as flax, caraway, poppy, or sunflower)
1-2 tbsp milk (if needed)
Extra seeds and sugar for topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a round cake pan (8- or 9-inch, though in a pinch, you can use a pie pan).
Cream together the butter (or margarine), sugar, and vanilla until light. Beat in the eggs for 3-4 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and seeds. If you find the mixture too thick for your liking, add 1-2 tablespoons of milk. Turn into the prepared pan, spreading out evenly. Sprinkle the top with extra seeds and sugar (if desired).
Bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on a wire rack.
