Whenever I ask Justin what kind of cake he fancies, his reply always starts with the word ‘lemon’.
Lemon isn’t my own personal favourite, but I decided to grant his wish today.
I’ve made him lemon drizzle cake, lemon curd tarts, lemon marmalade bars, lemon & polenta berry squares, lemon refrigerator cookies…
So something new – lemon & poppy seed loaf.
It has the sharpness of citrus combined with a slightly earthy tone provided by the poppy seeds.
The cake batter is quick and easy to make.
I folded whisked egg whites into the batter so the texture wasn’t too dense and heavy.
The resulting loaf is substantial, but also light and open textured.
It’s topped with a lemon glaze and a zingy, crunchy sugar topping…
…another request from the lemon-meister!
It’s one of those perfect afternoon cakes to complement a nice cuppa… and his Lordship is very happy!
Lemon & poppy seed loaf
Ingredients
For the loaf
- 115 g/4oz butter softened
- 225 g/8oz caster sugar
- 3 eggs separated
- 185 g/6⅔oz plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- pinch salt
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 85 g/3fl oz buttermilk
- juice of 1 lemon
- zest of 2 lemons
For the glaze
- 1½ tbsp icing sugar
- juice of half a lemon
- ½ tbsp granulated sugar
- pinch of lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4
- Grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin
For the loaf
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter & caster sugar until light & fluffy
- Mix in the egg yolks
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt
- Mix in the poppy seeds
- In a measuring jug, add the buttermilk, lemon juice and lemon zest (reserve a pinch of the zest for the glaze)
- Add the dry, flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture in two batches; interspersing it with adding the buttermilk & lemon mixture
- Whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks before folding into the mixture
- Spoon the mixture into the greased loaf tin and bake on the lowest shelf for 40-50 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes away clean.. If the top of the loaf begins to get too brown, cover with tin foil
- Whilst the cake is cooking, make the glaze.
- Add the lemon juice & icing sugar to a small measuring jug and stir until any lumps have been removed. Set aside
- In a small bowl, add the granulated sugar & lemon zest and with your fingers using a crumbing motion. Set aside
- Once cooked, remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin
- Whilst still warm and using a pastry brush, spread the lemon juice & icing sugar glaze uniformly over the top
- Once completely cool, remove the cake from the tin a place on a cake plate
- Sprinkle the granulated sugar & lemon zest mixture over the top of the glazed cake
- It's now ready to serve!