Caraway Seed 'Half-Pound' Cake

by Diana

When I am not cooking, thinking about recipes or addictively buying ingredients to cook new dishes, and most importantly, to photograph them, I work in museums. Yes, disappointingly as it might sound for some of you, starting with my own brother, art is my real and true passion. The thing is that it can be really difficult to combine museum practice with the love of cooking, unless a weird contemporary hybrid is discovered, something absurd and ridiculous like museum-cooking-therapy, which I am sure already exists somewhere. 

However, by pure and wonderful coincidence, about two weeks ago I was trying to explain to some children who William Kent was, so they could get going and design their own garden and I surprised myself reading the briefing and affirming with loud conviction that he was a 'famous 18th century designer of houses and gardens and a lover of good food'. I stopped all of a sudden and rewinded fearfully, wondering if that last phrase was about William Kent or just about me. So I double checked that my unconscious didn't betrayed me, secretly using visitors to promote my blog again and so I discovered that this 18th century fellow was in deed a promoter of good eating in Georgian times. What I heard from kind volunteers is that William Kent was the first one to incorporate the dining room to interior design and that's when a dedicated space to eat in the house was firstly created in England about 300 years ago, impacting the traditions of the time and refining food taste forever.

So after this pleasant discovery I thought that the best way to celebrate was by posting a genuine recipe from the Regency period: Caraway Seed Pound Cake. So here it is for you all, simple, tasty and full of history. Please notice that a pound cake was going to be too much, even for my husband, so I took the liberty to reduce it by half and to make just half a pound.

Finally, if you want to get all your senses involved, not only try out the recipe but save a piece of cake to enjoy it after visiting the William Kent exhibition at the V&A. 

I hope you like it!

© The Teaspoon

Shuku-Shuku -Nigerian Coconut Biscuits

by Diana

A few weeks ago we published a recipe for Matooke, Uganda's national dish, in support of Malaria Mission fundraising campaign. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Malaria affects half of the world’s population in 106 countries and territories. Since Malaria Mission campaign's deadline is now looming and they have reached over 60% of their target, we thought it could be a good idea to keep encouraging them with another tasty treat, this time from the worst malaria-affected region worldwide: Nigeria. 

Shuku Shuku is a Nigerian sweet delicacy, we could say that it is the equivalent to our well-known Western truffle, but of course somehow less pretentious. Although they may look a bit humble in appearance, they are deliciously soft inside, with a contained coconut explosion, awaiting for your bite. I can guarantee that they will cheer up the rainiest and most miserable of days. We also heard that it is a favourite snack among children in Nigeria and my experience tells me that they know more about these matters that we adults do.

For the record, Malaria is a risk for 97% of Nigeria’s population and 86% of these cases are unfortunately our little experts. 

If this worries you as much as it worries us, there is something you can do about it. Please give your contribution to Malaria Mission and show some support to the world.

We hope you enjoy this one!

© The Teaspoon