Lemon Poppy Seed Cake: A Special Juicy Delight

We have loads of poppy seeds in our apartment, absolutely loads! In Paris you can find almost everything, and whenever people visit and ask if we need anything from back home, we gratefully decline and say we’re all set. But there are a few specific items that the City of Light isn’t quite as strong with, and one of them is poppy seeds.

Baking with poppy seeds is almost non-existent here – it’s an ingredient that’s more characteristic of Eastern European baking, and in Paris you’ll hardly find any pastries or desserts with poppy seeds. So whenever we have the opportunity, we bring freshly ground poppy seeds from Levinsky Market and freeze them. That’s exactly what we did before Purim, which led to the Franco-German poppy seed cake I recently published that went viral (if you’re a poppy seed lover and haven’t tried it yet, it’s not too late).

Of course, when Mamush buys something, she doubles or even triples the quantities, so we ended up with plenty of this “black gold” in the freezer. This has given birth to several more poppy seed cakes, one of which is this simple yet incredibly delicious cake – a juicy lemon cake with poppy seeds added for genre enthusiasts. Naturally, you can make it without poppy seeds too, and it will still be wonderful.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Rectangular loaf pan 25-26 cm long, 7-8 cm high, and 10-11 cm wide

Ingredients
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake:
230g sugar
Grated zest from 2 lemons
165g very soft butter
40g sunflower or canola oil
230g eggs (about 4 medium eggs)
45g freshly squeezed lemon juice
300g all-purpose flour, sifted
10g baking powder
3g Fleur-de-Sel
180g whole milk
5g vanilla extract
30g quality ground poppy seeds (optional)

Fondant Glaze (optional):
120g confectioners’ sugar
15g freshly squeezed lemon juice
15g whole milk
10g quality ground poppy seeds

Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 165°C (330°F), grease the pan and line with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and grated lemon zest, and let sit together for about twenty minutes.
3. In a large bowl, beat the soft butter and sugar with lemon zest using a whisk or hand mixer. Add the oil and continue mixing.
4. Gradually add the eggs and whisk until all eggs are incorporated into the mixture. Add lemon juice and mix until smooth.
5. Add flour, baking powder, and salt, and continue to mix until a uniform batter forms.
6. Add milk and vanilla extract, mix until uniform. Add the poppy seeds and mix lightly.
7. Pour into the pan and bake for about 45 minutes until the cake is stable. Remove from the oven and let cool.
8. Fondant Glaze: Mix all the fondant ingredients and pour over the cake when it’s completely cool.

Bon-Appétit
Sharon