My Favourite Cakes
I love cooking with poppy seeds. They are an oil seed harvested from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Poppy seeds are used, whole or ground, as an ingredient in many foods, and they are also pressed to yield poppy seed oil. The seeds are very light. It takes 3,300 poppy seeds to make up a gram, and between 1 and 2 million seeds to make up a pound.
Poppy seeds are widely used as a spice or as a garnish in baked goods, such as muffins, bagels, sponge cakes and breads of all shapes and sizes. Poppy seeds are also highly nutritious. They are high in fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Thy also have a lot of iron and trace minerals like magnesium, manganese, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. I hope you’ll love this cake the way I did!
Always remember to assemble all ingredients before you start. Makes everything go faster.
Combine poppy seeds and milk in a bowl. Leave to stand for 1 hour before using.
Combine butter, essence, sugar, eggs, lemon rind (zest) and poppy seed mixture. Then add the sifted flour, and give it a quick stir to combine all ingredients. Using an electric mixer, beat on low speed until the mixture is combined. Continue beating on medium speed for about three minutes or until colour changes.
Gently fold in the blueberries
Pour mixture into prepared tin (pan) bake at 360°F (180°C) for about 1 hour 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake come out clean
Let the cake stand for at least five minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool
Slice the cake and enjoy
I really liked the cake because it’s very easy to prepare, I’m kinda lazy.
I ate three slices in one sitting
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Blueberries
Preparation time: 15 minutes, and 1 hour standing time; Baking time: 1 hour 20 minutes; Makes: 8-10 slices
Ingredients
- 300g (2½ cups, 10½oz) all-purpose flour
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder.
- 50g (⅓ cup, 2oz) poppy seeds
- 180ml (¾ cup) milk
- 185g (¾ cup, 6½oz, 1.6 stick) butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
- 250g (1 cup, 9oz) castor sugar
- 3 eggs
- rind (zest) of 1 lemon (you can also use lime)
- 150g blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 360°F (180°C). Grease and flour a 14cm x 24cm (5.5” x 9.5”) loaf pan. Sift the flour and baking powder and set aside
- Combine poppy seeds and milk in a bowl, stand 1 hour.
- Combine butter, essence, sugar, eggs, lemon rind (zest) and poppy seed mixture. Then add the sifted flour, and give it a quick stir to combine all ingredients. Using an electric mixer, beat on low speed until the mixture is combined. Continue beating on medium speed for about three minutes or until colour changes.
- Gently fold in the blueberries and pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Stand 5 minutes before turning on wire rack to cool.
- **I weigh the flour and butter, I do not use cup measures as the weight of a cup of flour tends to vary based on individual interpretation, (from 125g to 13og to 155g per cup).
Points to note:
- I always weigh ingredients, especially the flour and butter. You can use cup measures, but please note if you scoop flour directly from the bag you will end up with 150-185 g of flour instead of the recommended 125g. I suggest you spoon the flour into the cup, heaping it up over the top, then slide a knife across the top to level off the extra. Be careful not to shake or tap the cup to settle down the flour or you will have more than you need. You can also sift the flour first then scoop. My advice: please buy a weighing scale.
- Please note that oven temperatures are given as a guideline only. You may need to add or reduce the suggested temperature depending on your oven. I baked the cake at 360°F (180°C) for 80 minutes.
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