Gluten-free poppy seed cake with lemon glaze. Even thinking about it makes my mouth water. The first time I ate a poppy seed cake was about 10 years ago, when I lived in the United States. A very nice lady (also from Austria) who helped us during the relocating process to the U.S.A. brought it to my house then. And what shall I say? I immediately fell in love with this delicious and wonderfully moist cake.

Not only is it very quick and easy to make but you also need only a handful of ingredients. And, poppy seeds contain a lot of minerals (like iron, calcium, zinc, magnesium and so on) and vitamin B. Also, they have a nutty and very pleasant taste. In my opinion, the combination of lemon icing glaze very nicely sets off the very delicious taste of the gluten-free poppy seed cake. Enjoy!

First, start with preparing the butter-sugar mix (bottom/ layer 1). Cut butter into pieces and place together with granulated white sugar in a big enough mixing bowl. Mix until very creamy, then add egg yolks. Continue mixing for a couple of minutes before adding freshly grated lemon zest.

Now, prepare the beaten egg whites (middle/ layer 2). Place 6 egg whites in a mixing bowl and mix until stiff. Add a little bit of salt at the end of mixing in order to preserve the stiffness of the beaten egg whites.

Unless you were not able to buy finely ground poppy seeds, you need to grind them yourself with your blender (top/ layer 3).

Now it is time to combine all three layers. At the bottom of the mixing bowl you already have the butter-sugar mix (layer 1). Put the beaten egg whites in the middle (layer 2) and the ground poppy seeds on top (layer 3). Take a wooden spoon or rubber spatula and very carefully – but thoroughly – mix all three layers to get a smooth dough. Otherwise the air entrapped in the beaten egg whites will be lost, which makes the cake less soft.

Pour the dough into the buttered and floured baking pan. The baking pan I used has a diameter of about 26 cm (≈ 10 in.). Bake in the oven for about 1 hour at 175 °C (≈ 350 °F). After 45 minutes, cover the cake with parchment paper so that the surface of the cake does not become too dark. When finished, take out of the oven and let cool.

Now prepare the lemon icing glaze and the decoration (Physalis). For the lemon icing glaze, sift powdered sugar first so there will be no lumps in the sugar. Add freshly squeezed lemon juice to the powdered sugar, one spoonful at a time. Mix until it shows the required consistency.

Let the cake cool and then glaze with lemon icing. For decoration I used the exotic fruit Physalis because I not only like its looks but also enjoy their nice sweet-sour taste (and they contain a huge amount of Vitamin C!). Usually Physalis come within a lantern-like husk which you need to remove. Though the cake itself is already quite moist you may want to serve it with whipped cream. And that’s basically it.

Enjoy your very flavorful and moist gluten-free poppy seed cake with lemon icing glaze!

My Recipe:

Gluten-Free Poppy Seed Cake

with Lemon Icing Glaze Prep time: Bake time: Total time: Yield: 15 mins 1 hour 1 hour 15 mins 12 slices

INGREDIENTS * GLUTEN-FREE DOUGH: Butter-Sugar Mix (Bottom Layer) 180 g [≈ 1 cup minus 3 TBS] unsalted butter , softened (or in pieces)

180 g [≈ 1 cup plus 1 TBS] granulated sugar

[≈ 1 cup plus 1 TBS] 6 egg yolks

1 organic lemon (freshly grated lemon zest) Beaten Egg Whites (Middle Layer) 6 egg whites

1/8 tsp. salt Poppy Seeds (Top Layer) 200 g [≈ 2-1/4 cups] finely ground poppy seeds * ICING: 1/2 lemon (freshly squeezed lemon juice)

150 g [≈ 1 cup] powdered sugar DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 175 °C (350 °F). Grease (butter) and flour baking pan. Make dough: Start with the “butter-sugar mix” (bottom/ layer 1): Separate eggs into yolks and egg whites. Mix butter, sugar and yolks in a big mixing bowl until very creamy (best use an electric mixer). Freshly grate lemon zest and add to the creamy butter-sugar mix. “Beaten egg whites” (middle/ layer 2): Beat egg whites in an extra bowl with a hand mixer and add a dash of salt shortly before it gets stiff. “Poppy seeds” (top/ layer 3): Finely grind poppy seeds. Combine all three dough layers: Place “beaten egg whites” (middle layer) on top of “butter-sugar-mix” (bottom layer) and then add finely ground “poppy seeds” (top layer) on top of all. Very carefully – but thoroughly – combine all three layers by hand until you have a smooth dough (best use a rubber spatula). Bake: Pour dough in prepared baking pan (diameter of 26 cm/ ≈ 10 in.) and bake for 1 hour in total. For the last 15 minutes cover cake with parchment paper so its surface does not become too dark. Take cake out of the oven and let cool. Make icing: Sift powdered sugar to avoid hard sugar lumps in the icing. Add one spoonful of lemon juice at a time to the powdered sugar and mix thoroughly until desired consistency is reached. Pour lemon icing over cooled poppy seed cake, decorate and let dry. Serve poppy seed cake with whipped cream on the side, if you like. Enjoy your very flavorful and moist gluten-free poppy seed cake with lemon icing glaze!

NOTES:

g = gram

ml = millilitre

TBS = tablespoon = 15 ml

tsp. = teaspoon = 5 ml

1 cup = 1 cup [US] = 235 ml = 16 tablespoons (TBS)

1 stick of butter = 1/2 cup = 113 g (= 4 oz. = 8 TBS. = 24 tsp.)

1 pound (lb.) = 0.454 kilograms (kg) = 454 grams (g)

1 ounce (oz.) = approx. 28 grams (g)

1 inch (in or “) = 2.54 centimeters (cm) = 25.4 millimeters (mm)

1 liter = 1,000 ml = 1.0567 US quarts (liquid)

1 quart = 1 US quart (liquid) = approx. 0.946 liters