lemon poppyseed cake

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh is the date really the 22nd of September already?!?! What happened to August?! I'll tell you what happened, my really, really cute nephew Evan was born (at the end of July) and I just had to rush up to Seattle to see him. Now, there was cooking, there was eating, there was even Sugar & Salt's outrageously good bacon caramels, but there were no blog posts. It just wasn't meant to be.

So now, after a hiatus that was altogether too long, I'm back. Thanks to all of you who sent concerned emails regarding my health and safety, I am still of this earth and still cooking, I was just too dang busy being in love with the most wee, most perfect little man on earth.

So, to the real meat (cake!) of this post - my very own lemon poppyseed cake. When I set out to make this cake originally, I had a very difficult time finding a recipe for it, here I thought this was a common flavor combo, but alas, I pretty much had to greatly redefine an orange poppyseed cake of a completely different style.

However, this cake turned out near perfection. It is so good, especially with the tangy cream cheese frosting that goes on it, that I think it only lasted the day in this household. The lemon gives this cake a sublime freshness and I just love the way poppyseeds go crunch.

 lemon cake going...

This cake is perfect for a garden party, a birthday cake or a Sunday baking project that you plan on keeping all to yourself.

 lemon cake gone...

lemon poppyseed cake

serves 12

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 c poppyseeds (a little more if you like lots o' seeds like me)
1 1/4 c butter, softened
1 3/4 c sugar
1 Tbsp lemon zest
6 lg eggs, separated
1 c plain yogurt (though vanilla would probably be good too)
3 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
 
- preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- sift together the first five ingredients
- cream butter with one cup of sugar and the lemon zest in a large bowl until fluffy
- in a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sour cream and vanilla
- beat the flour mixture and the yolk mixture into the butter alternating between the two
-With a clean bowl and clean beaters, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until just starting to get foamy, then add the cream of tartar and beat until foamy
- while continuing to beat the mixture, add the remaining cup of sugar until it hold stiff peaks.
- stir about a third of the egg white mixture into the batter to lighted it, the fold in the remaining egg whites gently, but make sure they're all the way incorporated.
-pour the batter into three buttered nine-inch cake pans
- bake 40-45 minutes, until knife comes out of the center clean.

Frost with my whipped cream cheese frosting recipe