17/52 Lemon Poppy-Seed Cake

I totally had no idea which cake to make this week. So I started thinking...

Something simple and plain but not boring.

Something healthy but not too healthy.

Something with a little less calories but still full of flavor.

Something citrusy to match the sun that's coming out more and more.

And after random searching, I found this recipe and decided to give it a go:

Lemon Poppy-Seed Cake

Adapted from Eating Well

Cake:

350 g (2 1/2 cups) flour

25 g (1/4 cup) poppy seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soday

1/4 teaspoon salt

250 ml (1 cup) buttermilk

50 ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons lemon zest, freshly grated

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 eggs

2 egg whites

300 g (1 1/4 cup) sugar

Glaze:

75 g (3/4 cup) powdered sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon water

• Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F).
• Mix flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
• Combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice in a cup or bowl.
• Beat eggs and egg whites with sugar on high for about 5 minutes until thick and pale yellow.
• Taking turns, fold in flour mix and buttermilk mix with a spatula.

• Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.
• Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes before taking out of pan.
• For the glaze, sift powdered sugar into a bowl, add lemon juice and water and mix well. With a brush, coat cake with glaze and let cool and dry completely.

My modifications:

The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour. I only used all-purpose flour because that's what I had at home.

I did not toast the poppy seeds in a dry skillet just because I was a bit lazy.

I used sunflower seed oil instead of canola oil.

For the glaze I used lime juice to give it extra citrus flavor. I also didn't poke any holes into the cake before glazing which still worked fine.

The taste:

I love it. The cake is moist, light and fluffy. The lemon or lime glaze adds flavor and makes it more interesting. You can't really taste the poppy seeds but maybe that's because I didn't toast them beforehand.

What cake are you in the mood for at the moment?