How to Make Poppy Seed Cake
Poppy Seed Cake is a recipe that comes from Russia and Czechoslovakia. Besides the traditional, you can get blueberry, orange and lemon varieties. Great cooks hand down poppy seed cake recipes to deserving family members through generations. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- 1½ cup cake flour
- 1 tbs. lemon juice
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup fresh bread crumbs (finely chopped in a food processor)
- Confectioners' sugar for dusting
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup poppy seeds
- 1½ sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup unsweetened plain yogurt
Instructions
-
-
1
Set your taste buds up for a treat. The lemon version (not the recipe listed here) served at Café Fernando in Istanbul is a luscious combination of golden brown exterior with a soft interior that will melt in your mouth.
-
2
Assemble the dry ingredients in a bowl (including poppy seeds). Cut in margarine. Add eggs, milk and yogurt.
-
-
3
Stir to mix well. Add lemon juice and oil. Mix thoroughly.
-
4
Grease a 3-quart tube pan then sprinkle the bread crumbs over the greased pan. Pour in the batter and smooth out.
-
5
Bake the cake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Check for doneness by sticking a toothpick in it (if it comes out dry, the poppy cake is done), and return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes if a fork inserted into the middle does not come out clean.
-
6
Cool the poppy cake and dust with the confectioners' sugar when at room temperature. Complete this dessert with fresh fruit and whipped cream to top it off. Another option is to make a lemon glaze with powdered sugar and lemon juice.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Make the poppy seed cake in a bundt pan for ease in adding fruit as a topping. However, try your style at other elegant pans and shapes for beautiful versions of this old favorite.
The more original your recipe, the more poppy seeds that will be included. An original recipe calls for 1 to 2 cups of poppy seeds, while a more modern recipe will scale that down to a quarter of a cup.
