The “from-scratch” recipe that I use and have seen the most often is this one. This recipe is foolproof, and my mother, my daughter, and I have all used it. Waiting around to “clean” the mixing bowl is the husband! If left out on the counter and wrapped for up to three days, this cake is excellent. Great for breakfast or dessert! You can either eat it simple or sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top. If properly wrapped, freezes beautifully.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Additional Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 55 mins |
| Servings: | 14 |
| Yield: | 1 Bundt(R) cake |
Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup poppy seeds, or to taste
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 ½ cups bleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine buttermilk and poppy seeds in a small bowl. Soak for 10 to 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Thoroughly grease a fluted tube pan (such as Bundt®).
- Separate egg yolks and whites into 2 separate bowls (use a glass, metal, or ceramic bowl for the whites). Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a third bowl.
- Combine sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl; beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Add egg yolks; mix until thoroughly combined. Beat in the buttermilk-poppy seed mixture and vanilla extract. Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients and beat thoroughly; repeat with remaining dry ingredients.
- Beat egg whites on high speed until there is no clear liquid left, 3 to 5 minutes. Fold into the batter.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a table knife around the edges to loosen. Invert carefully onto a serving plate or cooling rack. Let cool completely.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 322 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 40 g |
| Cholesterol | 89 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 242 mg |
| Sugars | 23 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
The cake was moist and delicious and not too sweet. I doubled the recipe for a large group and used gluten free flour and flax seed milk with lemon juice for the buttermilk. I let the poppy seeds sit in the “milk” for a couple of hours as well. It stayed moist a couple of days after, but it was gone after two days!!
It was way too dry, not as moist asI thought it would be. I spread cream cheese on it and that helped. I baked it for 55 minutes. I’ll try again sometime and only bake for 45 minutes.
2.24.21 I followed this recipe to the letter, took it out of the oven at 55 minutes (not an hour), and it was dry, over baked, and actually somewhat crusty. I know oven temperatures can vary, but I’d recommend that you start checking for doneness at 50 minutes; that’s what I’ll do in the future. This is tasty, and I enjoyed the poppy seed flavor but just felt like something was missing. I don’t know, maybe some lemon zest and a little fresh lemon juice might kick up the flavor a bit. Served today with a dusting of confectioners sugar, but Florida strawberries are in season now, so this will get some sugared-berries over the top soaking into the cake tomorrow. I liked it well enough that I’ll give it one more try. Thanks for sharing your recipe.