I’m sitting here eating my third generous slice of this Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake and eyeing a fourth.
It’s a dream of a little cake. Lemony. Light. Tangy. Non-judgmental. A perfect morning pick-me-up after my candidate lost in all fifteen Super Tuesday elections.
This little cake is perfect for any occasion, actually–simply sliced and served with a cup of hot tea or dressed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a fancy dessert. It would be wonderful served with berries.
It is easy to make, too.
The recipe’s author, Helen Goh, has said that this is the cake she would take with her to a desert island.
That’s pretty high praise from someone who is famous for top-tier desserts and who has worked with superstar Israeli-English chef Yotam Ottolenghi as a product developer for more than ten years. They co-authored the exceptional cookbook Sweet.
Come to think of it, a deserted island, this cake (and Sweet Juliet, of course!) sounds pretty good these days.
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Save RecipeIngredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 C. plus 2 T. granulated sugar
- 1/2 C. heavy cream
- 5 T. unsalted butter (cubed)
- 1 T. poppy seeds
- Finely grated zest of 3 lemons (about 1 T.)
- 1 1/3 C. all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 t. baking powder
- 1/4 t. salt
- 3/4 C. powdered sugar (sifted)
- 2 T. lemon juice
Instructions
- Grease a loaf pan and line it with parchment paper. Use a piece of parchment larger than your pan so that you will have paper handles hanging over the long sides of the pan to help you ease the cake out of the pan.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Using the paddle attachment in your stand mixer, beat eggs and sugar together until they are well-mixed and frothy. This should take about 2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the egg/sugar mixture and continue beating for an additional 2 minutes. You want the mixture to thicken a bit.
- While the egg mixture is mixing, melt butter in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and add poppy seeds and lemon zest. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking powder together. Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture using a rubber spatula.
- Add the butter/lemon zest/poppy seed mixture to the batter and fold into the batter.
- Pour batter into your loaf pan. It should come about 3/4 up the side of the pan. Bake in a 350 degree F. oven for about 50 minutes or until a skewer stuck into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- To make the glaze, whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice together. Drizzle the glaze over the hot cake just as it comes out of the oven.
- You should leave the cake on your counter to cool for about 30 minutes before removing it from the pan.
- Serve at room temperature.
This recipe is adapted from a Helen Goh recipe that appears in Sweet. You can find the original recipe here.
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