Zesty Lemon Poppyseed Loaf Cake
I don’t think I know anyone who doesn’t love a slice of fresh lemon cake. This beautiful loaf cake is speckled with poppyseeds and packed with lemon. You start by rubbing lemon zest into the caster sugar of the sponge and leaving it overnight to let the oils release into the sugar. The baked cake is then drenched in a lemon soak before being finished in a tangy lemon icing.
The cake is made a bit differently to a typical sponge with soft butter added at the end. Since it’s the last ingredient to be added, its important that the butter is very soft so it can seamlessly blend in with the rest of the cake batter. The crumb is very light and moist due to the ground almonds and crème fraiche. Along with the lemon soak, this makes for a beautiful fresh lemon cake.
Ingredients - makes one loaf cake
2 lemons, zest
295g caster sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
125g crème fraiche, room temperature
200g plain flour
30g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp poppyseeds
85g unsalted butter, very soft
Soak:
100g caster sugar
100ml water
125ml lemon juice (approx. 5 lemons)
Icing:
100g icing sugar
Zest & juice of 1 lemon
hot water
toasted flaked almonds, to decorate
thyme, to decorate
Method
The night before you bake the cake, zest the lemons into the caster sugar and rub together using your fingers. Cover and leave overnight.
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line your loaf tin. If you have an intricate loaf tin like mine, you can grease it with butter followed by a dusting of flour. Tap it around the tin before tapping out any excess flour.
In a bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add in the ground almonds, salt and poppyseeds and mix to combine. Tip the lemon zest and sugar into a mixing bowl. Add in the eggs and whisk for a few minutes to thoroughly combine. Whisk in the crème fraiche before adding in the dry ingredients. Combine before finally mixing in the very soft butter. Spoon the cake batter into your prepared loaf tin. Bake for 50 minutes-1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
When the cake is nearly finished baking, place all the soak ingredients into a saucepan and heat until it comes to a simmer. Leave to one side until needed.
Once the cake is baked, leave it to cool for 5 minutes before poking holes all over the top. I like to use a thin long skewer for this so that the soak can really permeate the sponge. Gradually pour over all of the warm soak until it has been absorbed. Leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.
Once the cake has cooled, stir together the icing sugar, lemon zest and juice for the icing. Add in boiling hot water until you have a thin consistency that coats the back of a spoon. You’ll only need a few tbsp of water. Using a pastry brush, coat the entire loaf cake in the lemon icing. While the icing is still wet, arrange over your toasted flaked almonds and thyme. Leave the icing to set before serving.