Apron Afternoons: Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

My mom liked my lemon curd tart that I made a few weeks ago. She liked it so much, in fact, that the next time she went to the grocery store she bought a bag of lemons. The tart got her hooked on lemons apparently. She came home and handed a huge bag of lemons to me with a face that said "please bake something lemony again." So I did...actually Elizabeth and I did.

Elizabeth came home to babysit my me and my little brothers for the weekend because my parents are in China. NBD. But Elizabeth coming to visit really only means one thing: she and I are going to bake. My brothers are aware of this fact, which makes everyone happy to have Elizabeth as the babysitter.

We needed to decide on something to bake. I told her we had to bake something with lemon because I had the bag of lemons mom bought waiting for their juice to be made into something delicious. We searched the internet for some recipes and finally settled on a lemon poppy seed cake. Man oh man. We didn't know what we were in for. Every craving I have ever had or ever will have of a lemon cake was quenched with one bite of this cake. It's perfectly moist, perfectly lemony, and perfectly light. Just what we needed. After being baked, the cakes are glazed with a simple lemon syrup which makes them extremely moist and frosted with a cream cheese lemon butter cream. Plus, the poppy seeds make the cake look like it has polka-dots in it which makes its cuteness factor top the charts. Add perfectly cute to the list above. The only problem with this recipes is that it doesn't call for 8 lemons. Any suggestions on what to do with the extra lemons I have hanging around? Don't be surprised if another lemon recipe pops up soon.

From: Always With Butter

Cake

- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- grated zest of 1 large lemon
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- 5 egg whites
- 1/3 cup water

Syrup

- 1/3 cup water

- juice of 1 large lemon

- 1/4 cup sugar

Frosting

- Zest of 1 lemon

- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter

- 5 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 8 in. round cake pans.
2. Sift Flour. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds in mixing bowl.

3. Add the butter, lemon zest and 1 cup of the buttermilk to the flour mixture. Beat on low – be careful, the flour may fly everywhere – until completely mixed. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1-2 minutes.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the egg whites with the remaining ¼ cup buttermilk; whisk to blend thoroughly.

5. Gradually add to the batter, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating only enough to incorporate.

6. Divide the batter among the prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes.

Syrup

1. While the cakes are cooling, make the lemon syrup. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, lemon juice and water. Bring to the boil and continue to boil, reducing down until it appears thick and reduced in volume.

2. Turn out the cake layers onto wire racks and brush the hot lemon syrup over the warm cakes to moisten evenly. Let cool completely.

Frosting
1. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add zest and mix until combined.