Excellent with tea, our citrusy-sweet cake tastes fantastic and makes any occasion special. It’s inspired by lemon poppy seed Bundt cakes served during Purim. To make assembly a breeze, have all ingredients measured and ready before assembling.
Serves: 8 (makes 1 Bundt pan, or 1 oversized loaf pan)
Difficulty: moderate
Prep time: 30 min
Bake time: 1 hr
Special tools: Bundt or loaf pans, mixer
Ingredients
Citrus Poppy Seed Cake
1 c whole milk
1/3 c poppy seeds
2 T honey
4 lg eggs, separated
1/2 c butter, room temp
3/4 c coconut oil, melted
1 1/2 c sugar
1 T orange zest
1 T lemon zest
3 T fresh orange juice
1 1/2 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 t orange extract
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1 c sour cream (full-fat recommended)
2 1/2 c flour *
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
6 T butter, softened
1, 8 oz package cream cheese, chilled
2/3 c confectioner’s sugar
1/2 T vanilla extract
1 t orange extract
Steps
Citrus Poppy Seed Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil loaf pan(s) or Bundt pan and set aside. Bring milk, poppy seeds and honey to a simmer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and set aside. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Set aside and keep cool. In large mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream butter, coconut oil and sugar until pale and smooth (about 2 min on high). Add egg yolks and mix on high briefly. Add zests, juices, extracts and sour cream and blend well. Add milk mixture and mix briefly. Sift dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture in thirds, scraping down bowl; mix only until combined, being careful not to overmix or cake will toughen. Fold egg whites into batter gently, just until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan, leaving approx. 1″ at top for cake to rise. Gently smooth the top of the batter and spread to edges evenly. Bake 50-60 min until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. If using a loaf pan, you may have excess batter; simply pour excess into another, smaller oiled pan and bake at a reduced time. Remove from oven and let rest in pan 10 min. Remove from pan and transfer to cooling rack; cool to room temp before frosting. A simple powdered sugar frosting is fine; however, our Orange Cream Cheese Frosting is well worth the extra effort!
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Combine butter and cheese with mixer until smooth, about 30 sec. Add remaining ingredients and whip until fluffy, 2 min more. Chill until ready to use. Warm gently in microwave in 10-sec intervals, then drizzle over cake.
* To make this recipe gluten-free friendly, use gluten-free flour.
