Is there anything more mouth-watering than a thick slice of buttery lemon cake and a cup of tea in the afternoon? This Lemon and Poppy Seed Loaf has the perfect mix of softness, sweetness and tang.
Don’t think you’ll get through the whole cake? Before icing, cut half the loaf into slices and freeze each individually. Defrost one slice at a time for a sweet treat whenever you need one!
Serves: 10 slices
Ingredients
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- 180g unsalted butter, softened
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- 220g caster sugar
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- zest of 1 lemon
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- 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
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- 1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
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- 70g plain yoghurt
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- 310g self-raising flour
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- 2 eggs
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- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
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- icing
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- 160g icing sugar
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- zest and juice of 1/2 lemon (approximately 25ml)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a standard loaf tin.
Cream together the softened butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the lemon zest, poppy seeds, vanilla and yoghurt. Beat in the eggs, one by one, then add three tablespoons of flour. Stir to combine. Fold in the rest of the flour and lemon juice to make a thick batter.
Pour batter into loaf tin and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack for an hour.
For the icing, mix sugar, lemon juice and some of the zest until it becomes a smooth pouring consistency. Add more lemon juice if you like a little more zing! Pour icing over cooled cake.
Cut and enjoy!
Do you enjoy baking cakes? Is baking one of your happy places? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Also read: Orange Madeira Cake
