The Poppy Seed Lemon Cake

I had poppy seeds and I had lemons. What could I do with them? Make a refreshing cake , free of any pumpkin spices. The recipe was from OH Sweet Basil blog, from the writer/baker, Fiona. I have to admit , it is labor intensive. Have one or two people around to help.

  The first step is grating the zest.The recipes needs three tablespoons.

Then it was juicing them both for the cake and the icing. This is where you want to call in your kitchen cavalry. Juicing is hard work.

The cake needs 1/4 cup while the icing uses a tablespoon. Next time I'll just use lemon juice.

Then it 's mixing all the dry stuff

Flour, cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda.

Also butter and flour a 9 by 13 inch pan. I used a metal sugar shaker for an even coat

Then it's mixing the wet. The eggs - three of them

The butter about 3/4 cup

I used the good Neisen Massey vanilla, about one tablespoon

Then it's adding the sour cream and flour and mixing in with the wet ingredients.

The recipe called for two to three tablespoons of poppy seeds.I used Pereg's.

And this is what it look's like all mixed together.

This it it baked.

Onto the icing. Mix the cream cheese and butter first.

Keep these at room temp and cut into pieces for easy mixing.

Then it's the confectioner's sugar  - about three cups along with a tablespoon

 of vanilla and three tablespoons of lemon juice.

Then it's a quick blend with a hand mixer.

It's very gooey and sticky for an icing.

This is a very light , summery kind of cake, I love that the poppy seeds add color and crunch.The crumb is very crumbly, but normal for a scratch cake.

It's a labor intensive cake and icing  but worth it.