There are very few loaf cake recipes on the blog. But this one, I really recommend! A beautifully fragrant lemon loaf cake studded with poppy seeds, because it’s a combination that works really well. In fact, this recipe reconciles me with lemon (which I’m not very fond of to begin with) and lets me discover poppy seeds in baking. Here I used poppy seeds from Koro.
It’s a recipe we owe to chef Christophe Felder (and which can be found in his book “Mes 100 recettes de gâteaux”). I only reduced the amount of sugar (150 g instead of 200 g). The icing adds a little something extra when tasting (but without the apricot jam recommended by Christophe Felder).
Ingredients & Method
2 components · Full recipe
Cake
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 200 g (7.1 oz) sugar
- 100 g (3.5 oz) full-fat whipping cream
- 190 g (6.7 oz) plain flour
- 1/2 sachet baking powder
- zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
- 2 tablespoons blue poppy seeds
- 70 g (2.5 oz) melted butter
- a pinch of salt
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
2
Butter a loaf tin or line it with baking paper (I used a silicone mould, so no need).
3
Melt the butter and leave it to cool slightly.
4
Finely zest the lemons.
5
In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs together with an electric mixer for 5 minutes. The mixture will increase in volume and become slightly airy.
6
Add the lemon zest, salt and whipping cream, and mix.
7
Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder mixture and combine well. Then add the cooled melted butter.
8
Finally, add the poppy seeds.
9
Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 10 minutes at 180°C / 350°F. Then lower the temperature to 150°C / 300°F and continue baking for 30–35 minutes. Check doneness by inserting the blade of a knife — it should come out clean.
10
Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack.
Glaze
Ingredients
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- icing sugar (as needed for the right consistency)
- 1 teaspoon white rum
- 1 teaspoon blue poppy seeds
Method
1
Squeeze the juice of half a lemon and add a teaspoon each of poppy seeds and rum (optional).
2
Add as much sifted icing sugar as needed to reach the desired glaze consistency. You can also add a few extra poppy seeds.
3
Place the cake on a wire rack, pour the glaze over it and leave to set. Transfer to the serving plate.
4
The cake can easily be kept for 2 days, wrapped in cling film.
Gallery
