Description
Bright and tangy, this easy lemon poppy seed cake is moist and light! Lemon zest gives it an extra burst of lemon flavor, with a hint of warmth from vanilla. Drizzle with our easy lemon glaze. The cake is moderately sweet; the glaze enhances the flavor.
Ingredients
Units
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt (use whole milk yogurt, or sub sour cream)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (or softened coconut oil or softened butter)
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 fresh lemons (2 tablespoons lemon zest + 1/4 cup lemon juice)
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
Drizzle with Lemon Glaze and sprinkle with powdered sugar- see notes!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Spray oil or brush butter to an 8 to 9-inch loaf pan, dust with flour, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk yogurt, olive oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Add sugar and salt and whisk for 2 minutes.
- Measure out the flour and stir in the baking soda and baking powder. Add these dry ingredients a third at a time, to the wet mixture, whisking away any lumps.
- Add the lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, and poppy seeds, whisk again, until combined.
- Pour the batter into the greased and floured loaf pan, place on a lower rack, and bake 55-65 minutes, checking halfway through– if it is getting too dark, tent with foil.
- The lemon poppy seed cake is done when puffed, golden, and internal temp reaches 200°F in the center, or a toothpick comes out clean.
- While it’s baking, make the lemon glaze (see notes)
- Let cool 15 mins. Slide a knife down around the edges to loosen before inverting. Place it on a wire rack over parchment or a sheet pan to catch the drippings. Let it cool to room temperature before drizzling.
- Drizzle the lemon cake with the lemon glaze and dust with powdered sugar if you like!
Notes
- Lemon Glaze: To make the lemon glaze, place 1 cup powdered sugar in a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice, a pinch of salt and ½ teaspoon vanilla and whisk. Add more lemon juice to thin. To thicken, add more powdered sugar. If you don’t have powdered sugar, you can make it by blending 1 cup sugar in your blender until fine- this will make roughly 2 cups of powdered sugar.
- Feel free to use a stand mixer or an electric mixer if you prefer.
- To make this vegan, swap out the yogurt for vegan yogurt or coconut milk. Swap out the eggs for a rich plant-based milk, about ⅔-¾ cup.
- To make this gluten-free, use a gluten-free flour blend. I like Arrow Mills organic gluten-free flour blend. Using straight almond flour may be too dense, so use it sparingly. For example, try 1 ¼ cups gluten-free flour blend plus ½ cup almond flour. I hesitate to make this gluten-free without the eggs, but up to you.
- To make this in a bundt pan, double the recipe. Butter and flour the pan well! Let it cool before inverting.
- If using butter or coconut oil, beat it with sugar first, then add eggs, yogurt, vanilla and salt. Never add eggs to hot butter; they will scramble.
- For more of a denser “pound cake” texure, use sour cream and softened butter, reduce flour to 1 ½ cups, and baking powder to 1 ½ teaspoons.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1-inch
- Calories: 337
- Sugar: 22.8 g
- Sodium: 199 mg
- Fat: 16.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 43.1 g
- Fiber: 1.2 g
- Protein: 7.1 g
- Cholesterol: 65.1 mg