This recipe for poppy seed cake is wonderful and moist. Making multiple batches is recommended because it freezes well and is a fantastic gift. Either at room temperature or in the fridge, this cake keeps for a week. Try toasting and slicing it!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 9×5-inch loaf cake |
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour
- 1 ⅛ cups white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons lemon zest
- 4 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1 ⅓ cups unsalted butter, softened
- 5 eggs
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ¾ cup lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Sift together flour, 1 1/8 cup white sugar, and salt. Mix in lemon peel, poppy seeds, and butter. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- In a saucepan over low heat; cook and stir 3/4 cup white sugar and lemon juice together until sugar is dissolved. Let cool to just warm or to room temperature.
- Remove cake from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack. Place a cookie sheet underneath the rack. Prick the top of cake several times with a toothpick. Brush top of cake with warm or room temperature syrup, allowing lots of syrup to run down and soak into the sides and bottom of cake. Cool slightly in the pan before removing cake to a wire rack to cool completely. When completely cooled, wrap cake in foil or plastic wrap and let cake rest at least one day before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 447 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 55 g |
| Cholesterol | 131 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 14 g |
| Sodium | 227 mg |
| Sugars | 32 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I followed the directions to a T and ended up with a brick that was overcooked and dry on the outside with an uncooked goopy core. Very disappointing. Will not be making this again.
This was dry
There’s not enough lemon flavor at all. It tastes oily and dense. I wasn’t getting any of the lemon flavor. Big disappointment.
This is my sons favorite.
I added 3/4 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp baking soda. I also added lemon juice to the cake batter as it was so stiff I could barely mix it. It turned out nicely, very moist.
Forgot salt. also added 2 tbsp of whole milk. and sprinkled some sugar on top. VERY GOOD!!!!
I put half of the lemon juice recipe an it was super sour around the edge.
It was quite dense and not as moist as I had hoped. I actually liked that it was tart (especially when you add the lemon sauce over top). Perhaps a fix to make it moister would have been good but it was still pretty good. I also took it out of the oven 20 minutes before the recipe called and it would have been burnt to a crisp it I hadn’t.
The lemon “glaze” is way too tart, and the cake is dry.
Very lemony delicious would make it many times I did not have butter milk so I made my own.
I didn’t find it moist nor did the picture represent what the cake looked like. Mine, too, burned and ended up turning down the oven to 320 to finish it off – about the last 25 mins. It’s dense and in my opinion dry. I was looking for a moist and fluffy lemon cake and this didn’t work for me. I followed the recipe exactly as written and even invested in cake flour and blended one egg at a time. Moving on…
The cake came out gummy and thic. It’s way too heavy; there’s no baking powder to make it rise. I was very disappointed in this recipe.
This turned out very dense, and not in a rich buttery way. the top and sides were pretty good because they absorbed most of the lemon+sugar syrup, but the center was bland and dry. Nobody at my office could eat more than half a slice. There are much better lemon poppyseed pound cakes out there!
It was good yet I would probably do a little less lemon syrup at the end…….other then that yes i would make it again
so nice and easy to make, big hit with my guests. Also a great birthday cake!!
This recipe was simple to follow. The finished product was easy to work with for muffin pans. After the first batch I did make a few changes because it was not lemony enough for me personally, but the flavor was just fine. I made the recipe to serve 12 people and I was able to make 2 ½ dozen beautiful muffins. My changes made it more lemony/sour and I loved it! I added about 2 TBS of lemon juice with pulp and about ½ TBS of extra lemon Zest to the mix and I only added ½ the recommended poppy seeds. With the syrup part of the recipe I added the pulp and added the left over butter from the mix recipe. (About 2tbs) This made it easier for me to work with for the muffins since it was thicker. While baking during the last 10 minutes I brushed the syrup on the muffins without poking them. I brushed them at 10 minutes, 5 minutes and then when they came out of the oven. When all was done I “dunked the muffins” both top and bottom into the leftover syrup and then lightly sprinkled a pinch of sugar over the top. The Kids loved them. Just be warned if you follow my modifications they are tart. On a side note: I used Wilton 6 cup King Size Muffin Pan and a number 12 Ice Cream Scoop. (You can find this at any of your restraint supply shops, they are must have)
The syrup made the cake a bit sour. I have to add a liberal sprinkling of powdered sugar to each slice to make it more palatable. Didn’t notice the the recipe note beforehand that cake is supposed to sit a day before serving. Took a bite right after I took it out of the pan and it was awful. Improved within 2 hours, and was much better the next day. Next time I think I’ll use maybe half as much syrup. Not sure why other reviewers think cake was too dry…mine was practically soggy before the syrup fully set in, and has stayed very moist. I used fresh lemon for the juice and zest because my mom said it would taste better/stronger (I had originally planned on using bottled juice and substituting something for the zest).
Not moist and we ended up pouring out butter which was bubbling over the pan. Taste wise….no one enjoyed it. Very difficult to mix.
This recipe has a good base, but could use some tweaking. I made this once following the exact directions and I ended up with a difficult to mix batter and a burnt cake. I would cream the butter, eggs and sugar together first. Add some lemon juice to the batter. Also, ditch the syrup topping, it’s too bitter. And please, if you’re making this, don’t bake it for and hour and 15 minutes. I baked mine for 55 minutes and it was still too long. Sorry for all the negativity, but I gotta be honest! 🙂
This was the driest cake I have even tasted. I thought there was something strange about this recipe when I filled the pan with the batter—it was too thick and I thought it needed more “moisture” (ie. milk, oil etc.)—five eggs? I definitely would’t recommend this “moist” lemon poppy seed cake to anyone!
The directions aren’t quite right for this cake. See “Delicious Moist Poppy Seed Cake” on this site for the same recipe but with complete directions. Looks to be by the same person too.