Hogweed seed parkin (gf/df)
Warmly spicy autumn cake that is both filling and delicious. This recipe comes from the Galloway Wild Foods website https://gallowaywildfoods.com/hogweed-seed-parkin-cake-recipe/
Ingredients:- (makes one large tray bake or two small ones). Common hogweed is a cousin of the very toxic giant hogweed which causes horrible burns and blisters when touched. Common hogweed sap can have a similar but milder effect for some people, however, the dry, brown, ripe seeds and the old flower heads no longer have any sap in them so are safe to touch.
Ingredients:- (makes one large tray bake or two small ones). Common hogweed is a cousin of the very toxic giant hogweed which causes horrible burns and blisters when touched. Common hogweed sap can have a similar but milder effect for some people, however, the dry, brown, ripe seeds and the old flower heads no longer have any sap in them so are safe to touch.
- 400g plant based butter or margarine, plus extra for greasing
- 2 large eggs
- 8 tbsp milk (plant based is fine)
- 6 tablespoons dry hogweed seed shells – pull off as many twiggy bits as you can be bothered to, but a few don’t really matter as they will be ground to a fine powder. Use more if you want to up the spiciness of the cake.
- 400g golden syrup
- 170g treacle
- 170g light soft brown sugar
- 200g medium oatmeal - you can make gluten free oatmeal by blitzing gf oats in a blender
- 500g self-raising flour or gf self raising
- ¼ tsp xanthan gum
- ½ tablespoon ground ginger (you can add more or less depending on your taste)
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- Heat oven to 160C / 140C fan / Gas 3
- Grease two deep 22cm/9in square cake tins, or one large equivalent, and line with baking parchment or those silicone mats that stop things from sticking
- Beat the eggs and milk together with a fork and set aside
- Scatter the hogweed seeds on a clean flat baking tray and pop in the oven to toast for 5 minutes
- Gently melt the syrup, treacle, sugar and butter together in a large pan until the sugar has dissolved then remove from the heat
- Put the toasted hogseeds into a spice grinder and whizz them to a fine powder. You’ll find it very tricky to grind them with a pestle and mortar, as they are flat and papery
- Mix together the oatmeal, flour, xanthin gum, salt, ground hogweed seeds and ginger, and stir into the syrup mixture, followed by the egg and milk, stirring well until thoroughly combined
- Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until
- the cake feels firm and a little crusty on top
- Cool in the tins then run a knife around the edges before turning it carefully out onto a chopping board.
- Well wrapped in foil, cling film or baking parchment, it will keep well for a week, and actually improves after about 2 or 3 days, becoming softer and stickier the longer you leave it as the oatmeal swells up (up to a few days).