Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Lemon Butter Cream Frosting

Favourite cake ever? Maybe. This lemon poppy seed cake was pretty awesome. With every bite, I was reminded of my mom’s famous lemon loaf with all it’s lemony goodness.

The frosting was a touch over the top. Hey, don’t discount the frosting, I said a touch over the top. What I mean is that you could easily make this cake with half the frosting and it’d be wonderful but for those more ostentatious events, the full amount is just right.

I’d really like to make this cake with smaller round cake pans so I’d have four levels instead of two but I was working with what I had. Here’s what I did:

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

• 1 cup All Purpose Flour
• pinch of Salt
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 cup and 3 tbsp Unsalted Butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup Sugar
• 3 large Eggs
• 1/4 cup Sour Cream
• zest and juice of 2 medium Lemons
• 2 tbsp Poppy Seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 325’F. Grease the bottom and sides of one 9 inch round or two 5 inch round cake pans with butter. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, whisk flour, salt, and baking powder together.
3. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy with a mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well incorporated. Add the sour cream, lemon zest and juice.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two parts and mix by hand to combine.
5. Fold in the poppy seeds being careful not to overmix, as the poppy seeds can change the batter color.
6. Pour the batter into the pan and bake until the top of the cake is slightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, about 40- 45 minutes.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature and then carefully flip the cake out and onto a cake platter.
8. Using a long serrated or carving knife, gently cut the cake in two even layers. If the cakes are wildly unlevel, slice off a 1/4 inch or so off the top to make them level. They will stack better level.
9. Very carefully flip the top layer over onto a plate. Frost the cake layer on the cake plater with half the frosting. Place the cake layer on the plate back on top of the frosted layer and spread the last half of the frosting on top.

Lemon Butter Cream Frosting

• 1 cup Butter, room temperature
• 8 oz Cream Cheese, room temperature
• zest of 1 Lemon
• 3 cups Icing Sugar

1. Cream butter, cream cheese and lemon zest together. Add the icing sugar and continue to mix until smooth. The recipe originally called for 5 cups but my frosting was just perfect with only 3 cups.