Comments on: poppy seed lemon cake

By: Monika

Monika — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:17:01 +0000

I made this cake yesterday for some Easter gifts today. I was SOOOO excited as I love that good old fashioned lemon poppyseed cake that my polish grandmother would bust out!….. The cake was OK. Really nothing to rave home about. Very dense. No dry but thick. I do prefer more lemon taste. YOu really did not taste any lemon. I only needed 1.5 lemons (slightly larger then normal)

By: annie

annie — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:36:55 +0000

So I just tried the cake I made with the addition of 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder (actually i was out of store-bought so made it with 1 part baking soda to 2 parts cream of tartar) and much preferred the texture.

By the way, am I the only one needing to microplane 5 lemons to get 1 1/2 TBSP of zest? My lemons seem normal-sized…

By: annie

annie — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:20:44 +0000

I’ve made this once and found it a bit dense. I only realized after baking it that the recipe did not ask for baking powder. #299 says the original recipes asks for 1/4 teaspoon, meaning from Kurt Gutenbrunner’s book NEUE CUISINE? The Food & Wine version also does not make mention baking powder.

Well, I have 8 egg yolks leftover after using the whites for Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake, so I’m going to have another go at this recipe with the addition of the baking powder.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:12:30 +0000

I made this cake last night and have mixed feelings about the outcome. I really really wanted to like this cake. I love the taste of lemon in baked goods and was anticipating a flavor burst of “lemony” goodness. With just the zest of two lemons, the lemon flavor was very subtle to almost non-existent. To compensate for this I made a lemon flavored sugar glaze. However, I do agree that it was very clever to reverse the “lemon” and “poppy seed” in the title as clearly the emphasis is on the poppy seed and not the lemon.

By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:52:50 +0000

Okay Lady, this cake is AWESOME!!! I was getting a little giddy when I tasted the batter and then I had this horrible sinking feeling (no pun intended) when the cake was in the oven: “oh s@$t! I am at 6,700 feet!” BUT to my great satisfaction the cake turned out beautifully just like you said. I made a little drizzle with lemon juice and powdered sugar to top it that gave it just the lemony zing that I wanted. I ended up zesting 4 lemons to get enough zest and then just used that juice for the icing/drizzle. LOVELY cake and next time I’m going to make a gluten-free version. Since its only 1/2 cup flour, I don’t think you could tell the difference.
I was a little skeptical of a whole 1/2 cup of poppy seeds so I stopped at like 3/8 of a cup :) Good luck not eating the whole cake, the 2 sticks of butter was probably the only thing stopping me. Probably my new favorite cake. Mmmmmm, mmmmm, good!
Really, I cannot wait until your cook book comes out.

By: Ema

Ema — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:53:49 +0000

I am always surprised, when i see poppyseeds being used as a whole seed, not grounded.
In my country (slovak republic), we are using special grinder only for poppyseeds, so we can get the taste out of them, and believe me, poppyseed cakes of all kinds are one of the most popular sweets here.

By: Megan

Megan — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:42:55 +0000

Please tell me this will be in your new cookbook! And where can I buy it? :)

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:51:54 +0000

Deb,
Did you also look at lemon poppy seed cake in rose’s heavenly cakes? I tried it once and it was wonderful.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 06:25:20 +0000

Scratch that, barley flour is out. She can have almond flour though- any ideas or expertise there? Thanks!

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 01:07:24 +0000

What do you all think about substituting the 1/2 cup APF for barley flour? I’m making a dessert for a GF friend this weekend. Thanks!