Poppy Seed Cake Recipes

Two recipes from my family's cookbook. One recipe uses a cake mix to make a moist and lemony poppy seed cake, the other recipe is for a homemade poppy seed cake with a stripe of chocolate-cinnamon streusel. Both are keepers!

Homemade Poppy Seed Cake, see the layer of cinnamon-chocolate streusel?

A 'scratch golfer' shoots par or better then jots quick notes onto a 'scratch pad'. To 'scratch the surface' is just the beginning while 'scratching a plan' brings one to an end. To 'raise some scratch' is to gather cash.

Why then is someone who cooks and bakes with basic ingredients a 'scratch cook'? Tis a puzzle.

Scratch cooks like me are taken aback when not-so-scratch recipes taste great. Last spring, my friend Ann sliced a moist lemony cake as the sweet ending for our book club. We savored each bite, pressing tines to plates to gather the last crumbs.

To my surprise, Ann’s recipe came from the pages of my own family’s cookbook. There I found two poppy seed cake recipes side by side, one starting with a cake mix, another made from scratch. No puzzle here, both cake recipes are winners.

EASY LEMON POPPY SEED CAKE Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, “dump and mix” a box of lemon or yellow cake mix, a small box of instant vanilla pudding, four eggs, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1 cup warm water, 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup poppy seeds. Pour into a well-greased Bundt pan, bake for an hour. Cool 10 minutes, turn onto a plate. While still warm, drizzle with a glaze of 3 tablespoons lemon juice and 6 tablespoons icing sugar.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE 16 slices, per slice: 257Cal; 4g Protein; 12g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 35g Carb; 0g Fiber; 317mg Sodium; 62mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 6 points

ALANNA's TIPS Poppy seeds are priced like black pearls at supermarkets. Instead, buy bags of poppy seeds for a couple dollars at an international grocery.

HOMEMADE POPPY SEED CAKE

With sweet spiced chocolate

Hands-on time: 35 minutes
Time to table: 3 hours

3/4 cup poppy seeds
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks & 4 egg whites
2-1/4 cups flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of table salt

1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a small bowl, stir together poppy seeds, milk and sour cream. In a large bowl, cream butter and shortening. Slowly add sugar and egg yolks. Beat for 8-10 minutes. In a bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and powder. In a bowl, stir together streusel ingredients. In a bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Alternating, blend flour and poppy seed mixtures into butter (that is, 1/3 flour, then 1/2 poppy, 1/3 flour, 1/2 poppy, 1/3 flour). Gently fold beaten egg whites into teh batter.

Spray a Bundt pan with cooking spray, preferably Baker’s Joy. Scoop 1/3 batter into pan, sprinkle with 1/2 streusel mixture, then another 1/3 batter, remaining streusel, remaining batter. Bake for an hour. Let cool 10 minutes, turn onto a rack to cool.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE 16 slices, per slice: 343Cal; 5g Protein; 19g Tot Fat; 7g Sat Fat; 39g Carb; 1g Fiber; 228mg Sodium; 82mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 7 points

Poppy seed cake made from a cake mix. One of the few Kitchen Parade recipes which calls for a convenience product, that means it's really good!

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. In 2009, Kitchen Parade celebrates its 50th anniversary with a special collection of my mother's recipes.

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Simply Amazing Recipe. I tried it & it was way too great. Infact more than delicious.
Thanks alot!!

sara on 3/13/2010

To be a "scratch cook" is a great thing. Being intimate with the measurement and chemistry of a recipe brings a little more of ourselves into what we cook and share. Even so, convenience is a great blessing to many. And isn't it wonderful when convenience sacrifices little in quality and fully pleases those who partake?

I think balance is the key. There are many things I regularly cook from scratch but I have yet to find a brownie recipe that makes brownies as economically and as predictably delicious as a store-bought mix! This "easy" cake recipe is another staple in my baking repertoire. It is hard to mess up when busy or distracted and can be dressed up so many different ways. It is definitely a keeper!

Lisa on 2/18/2011

I just wanted to say thanks for the poppy seed cake recipe. This one is the closest to my grandmother's recipe that I have found in 30 years! Keep up the great work.

Anonymous on 12/03/2011