Nothing says spring time like a light, bright lemon poppy seed cake! It's sweet, buttery, and has just the right amount of tang from the lemon icing. I made this cake for Easter but it's delicious any time of year!
Prepare Loaf Pan
I love all of my USA Pan* cake pans because they are extremely sturdy and truly nonstick. However, I still like to prepare my pans to ensure the cake comes out easily.
Cut a parchment paper sling slightly smaller than the width of the pan and make sure it fits flatly in the bottom. Then lightly spray the bottom and sides of the pan with a vegetable oil based spray (I love Bakers Joy or Everbake). Place you parchment paper sling in the bottom of the pan and smooth it out so that it sticks to the pan spray.
Make the Cake
- Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment or a handheld mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully combined, then mix in the yogurt and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- I use almond flour in addition to the regular flour because it help keeps the cake moist and fluffy. But if you don't have almond flour, replacing it with all purpose is fine!
- Add about half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
- Mix in the buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- If you don't have buttermilk, just use regular milk. Since there's already plenty of acidity in the cake, there's no need to make your own buttermilk if you don't have it.
- Then mix in the rest of the dry ingredients and the poppy seeds.
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and smooth it out. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.
Make the Icing
While the cake is baking, make the icing.
In a small bowl, start with ½ cup powdered sugar and stir in the lemon juice 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency. If it gets too thin, simply add in a little more powdered sugar.
Once the cake is fully cooled, drizzle the icing over top and enjoy!
Store the lemon poppy seed cake in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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Lemom Poppy Seed Loaf Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt, substitute regular yogurt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup almond flour, substitute all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup buttermilk, substitute whole milk
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
Icing
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line your loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment or a handheld mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully combined, then mix in the yogurt and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add about half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
- Mix in the buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Then mix in the rest of the dry ingredients and the poppy seeds.
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and smooth it out.
- Bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, make the icing. Start with your ½ cup of powdered sugar and mix in the lemon juice 1 teaspoon at a time until your desired consistency is reached. If the icing gets too thin, add a little bit more powdered sugar.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let rest in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then carefully use your parchment paper sling to remove the cake from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool for another 20-30 minutes before icing.
- Drizzle the icing over top and enjoy!
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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