An Easy Cake for Brunch or Tea!
Brightened with Lemon EVOO, lemon juice and zest and with the added nuttiness of poppy seeds, this is a fabulous addition to a brunch table, or just to a cup of tea any time of day.
This easy cake gets its lemony flavor from the Lemon EVOO and the lemon juice instead of from store bought lemon extract. This makes the lemon flavor just perfect – balanced, not too tart or overwhelming and just as good with or without the icing.
One note, I like to sift the dry ingredients together first and then mix the poppy seeds in with the flour mixture. I find this gets the poppy seeds more evenly distributed throughout the batter and the cake.
Baking is not my favorite kitchen activity. I tend not to love the measuring and precision needed and therefore often doctor up boxed cake mixes (as you will see with many of my other cake recipes on the blog). But I decided to BE BRAVE, and try out a more precise recipe this time. After a little experimenting, I was really pleased with the results. I hope you will try it out and email me some feedback.
Happy Baking!
Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf
Ingredients
Unflavored Oil for greasing the pan
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour, more for flouring the pan
Zest of 2 lemons
1 cup sugar
¼ cup milk
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 large eggs
2/3 cup O&V Lemon Extra Virgin Olive Oil *
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
Optional Icing
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons O&V Limoncello vinegar *
Preparation
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch loaf pan
In a bowl, combine lemon zest and sugar and rub with your fingers until it looks like wet sand. This releases the flavor from the zest into the sugar. Whisk in the milk, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, eggs and Lemon EVOO.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add in the poppy seeds and mix to stir. Whisk dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and incorporate well, but do not over mix.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in pan until warm to the touch, then turn out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.
Slice and serve plain, with berries or with butter.
Optional Icing
Whisk together 2 teaspoons of Limoncello vinegar and the confectioners’ sugar. The glaze should be smooth and thick like molasses or honey. Add additional sugar or vinegar to achieve this consistency. Use a pastry brush to spread glaze evenly over top and sides of cake. Cool completely before slicing.
Serves 8-10
Total Time: I hour 20 minutes
Notes
* The Lemon EVOO adds another layer of bright citrusy flavor. The cake will be significantly less lemony and bright without it. However, you may use another high-quality, mild unflavored EVOO instead. Add a ¼ teaspoon of lemon extract if you do.
* The Limoncello vinegar adds a combination of sweet and tart to the glaze that accentuates the citrus notes of this loaf. You can substitute with just lemon juice.
Categories: Snacks & Sides, Dessert, Breakfast & Brunch, Limoncello Vinegar. Lemon EVOO, Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf, Greek Yogurt, Citrus Cake, Icing, Lemon Loaf
