This bright Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is bursting with spring flavour.
Spring is just around the corner… I think officially Spring will arrived in just a few days. I can feel it in the sunshine ☀️ – it is warm and bright and happy. And has totally inspired this pretty lemon cake. A Lemon Poppy Seed Cake.
This is a simple and straightforward cake, and so it does not need much story to go with it. Not too sweet, light and lemony. I love this kind of cake at brunch. Served in super thin slices, it will feed a crowd, and fits nicely on a dessert table between fresh fruit, cookies and brownies. Small slices are small commitments. Your brunch guests will appreciate that they have room to sample more than one thing from that sweet spread.
Yes, I’m thinking Easter, or Mother’s Day, or any Spring party really, or just because the sun is shining…
I like this served with a simple lemon glaze. You could skip the glaze and lightly dust with icing sugar instead.
Here is how you make this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake:
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups white granulated sugar
- 3/4 cups unsalted butter softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup butter milk
- zest from 2 lemons
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
lemon glaze
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1-1/2 cups icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Zest the lemons, then reserve their juice. Set aside.
- Prepare bundt or tube pan - spray inside of pan with cooking spray, then dust with a tablespoon or so of white floor, shaking and tilting the pan to ensure it is evenly coated. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, and salt. Stir with a whisk so that poppy seeds are evenly distributed. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and 2 cups granulated sugar together until well whipped, light coloured and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each egg.
- Now add the remaining ingredients to the batter as follows: alternating flour and buttermilk, and starting with 1/3 of the flour mixture, add the flour to the eggs and sugar and beat at low speed until just combined, then add 1/2 of the butter milk, beating again until just combined, continue alternating flour and butter milk, ending with flour. Beating gently after each addition. Add lemon zest and juice and again beat gently until just blended.
- Spoon batter into prepared pan, tapping the pan to remove any air bubbles. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Test with a wooden tooth pick, it should come out of the center of the cake clean. Allow cake to cool in the pan at least 10 minutes on a wire rack before attempting to remove from the pan. Allow cake to completely cool before frosting.
for the frosting:
- In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons lemon juice with 1-1/2 cups icing sugar with a whisk until smooth and creamy. Glaze should drip from the whisk in long thin strands. Adjust thickness by adding more lemon juice) or more icing sugar. Once cake is completely cool, drizzle glaze over cake.
- Cake should be frosted the day it is served. Cake can be made up to one day ahead of time. Once cooled, wrap unfrosted cake (remove from pan) with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to frost.
Notes
I’m using this simple bundt pan for this cake. A straight sided tube pan will work nicely too.
Hi, I’m Trish. I share quick and healthy recipes designed to get you through your busy days, balanced with a generous serving of sweet and decadent treats for weekends and special occasions. You will find vegan, gluten-free and plant-based recipes here too. Thanks for visiting!
Kimberly Baxter
This cake looks so beautiful I can taste it with my eyes!