Lemon and Caraway Seed Pudding Cake

[ermingarden]

For b2mem 2019, I came up with a recipe for Bilbo's seed cake. Three years later, I've revisited the concept in a different form:



Taking inspiration from fiona15351's suggestion of a lemon glaze, I made the whole cake lemon à la a lemon poppyseed cake. And while the 2019 seed cake was from scratch, this one uses boxed cake mix, with my favorite baking trick/"secret ingredient": instant pudding mix! Instant pudding mix is the secret to making a cake from a boxed mix that tastes like it's from scratch; it comes out fantastically moist.

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix, about 1 lb (I used Betty Crocker)
1 package instant lemon pudding, about 3.5 oz
1 cup water
1/2 cup oil (I used safflower oil)
3 eggs
About 1 1/2 tbsp caraway seeds

Directions:
Mix all ingredients until smooth and pour into greased pan, ideally a bundt or tube pan. Bake at 350˚F/175˚C until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean; because of the pudding mix, this will probably take longer than you expect.

The lemon flavor comes entirely from the pudding; I've never used the pudding to flavor the cake like that before, and I was pleased with how it turned out! The cake is a little sweeter than I'd prefer – an inevitable consequence of using a prepackaged mix – but very moist and lemony, and the caraway seeds are a nice addition. A more successful experiment than the avocado bread, I think.

Comments

[oracne]

Ooh. Thank you.

[atamascolily]

Instant pudding mix is the secret to making a cake from a boxed mix that tastes like it's from scratch; it comes out fantastically moist.

This is sort of like how boxed cake mix is the secret to getting the right texture in homemade thin mints!

I once tried a lembas recipe that involved acorn flour that was a lot of fun--it was designed for a pizzelle iron, but it was still good even when the cookies were thicker!

[ermingarden]

Oh man, I have never tried homemade thin mints but that sounds delicious! (Funnily enough, I bought a box of Thin Mints literally yesterday!)

And that lembas recipe sounds really intriguing – do you by any chance have a link?

[atamascolily]

It was from a newspaper article back in the early '00s after the release of the first LOTR movie--I'll see if I can dig it up. There are also no end of different versions online, most of which lean towards the shortbread side for some reason?

That said, I don't actually think lembas is super-sweet. If I were making up a recipe from scratch, I would make them more like acarajé, using femented cowpeas, only baking them instead of frying them, which results in an incredibly light and fluffy texture (and the protein means they'd be naturally more filling). You can also get similar fluffiness with aquafaba from chickpeas.... hmmm....

[ermingarden]

Oh wow, I'd never heard of acarajé before, but that looks delicious! And I definitely agree with you that lembas would have to be pretty protein-rich.

[atamascolily]

Also, I will say that homemade thin mints are great if you like that sort of thing, but they are time-consuming, because you have to make the dough and bake the cookies, then double-dip in chocolate and let cool, which is more work than I'm usually willing to put in these days.

That said, I made them for a cookie competition once because I was so determined to show off and I was absolutely crushed when nobody voted for them. Turns out it was because they thought I'd just bought a box of Thin Mints; they couldn't believe they weren't the real thing!

[ermingarden]

That is the funniest baking story ever!

[independence1776]

That picture looks plenty appetizing to me.

[shirebound]

Moist and lemony, count me in! I adore lemon cake.

[hhimring]

Sounds and looks great, I'm sure Bilbo would approve!

[dr_zook]

This looks delicious! I'm especially intrigued by the combination with caraway seeds. :3

(In your bio you're stating you're always open for new friends, so I'd like to join circles with you! My interest in Tolkien is currently rather dormant, but not stifled, haha. And being creative in the kitchen is one of my favourite pastimes! Plus I adore your default icon.)

[ermingarden]

Thank you!

Absolutely! Very nice to meet you – and thanks for the icon compliment!