Lemon and Poppy Seed Loaf

At this time there is this little lemon tree in our garden that carries loads of beautiful lemons. So I was desperately looking to make things with lemon involved, and what’s better than this classic combination of lemon and poppy seed in one fluffy and delicious loaf.

I don’t know why lemon and poppy seeds go so well together, but it does and why question that. In this loaf there is extra of everything, extra lemon juice, zest and extra poppy seeds, because I think a lot of recipes don’t actually use enough of the core ingredients that make that cake, in this case the lemon and poppy seeds. You can of course use less than I did in this recipe but I feel this really makes a difference and make a more outstanding cake/loaf, don’t be afraid of your ingredients. For this recipe I used 2 lemons out of my garden, because I wanted to use a lot of zest, so please make sure to wash your lemons thoroughly and use organic ones. The juice and zest of these homegrown lemons is just sooo good.

So let’s get to the making of this slightly fudgy and fluffy lemon and poppy seed loaf.

Ingredients

• 238 g | 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 170 g | 3/4 cup butter at room temperature
• 100 g | 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 50 g | 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 180 ml | 3/4 cup milk or plantbased milk, I used an oat milk which worked perfectly too
• fresh lemon juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of 2-3 lemons
• 3 tbsp poppy seeds

Method

• Preheat your oven to 350 and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with some butter or oil.
• In a medium boil sift the flour, baking powder and salt and give it a quick mix.
• In a large bowl cream the softened butter with the sugars until pale and fluffy. Mix in the eggs one by one. Also add the vanilla extract, lemon zest, juice and the poppy seeds.
• Now mix in half of the milk and half of the flour mixture until well combined and repeat with the other half of the milk and flour mixture. Should be a nice smooth batter.
• Pour the batter in the prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes. Just check the cake with a toothpick and it will be done if it comes out of the center clean.
• Let it cool down in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy your slice of this beautiful loaf with some tea!

Let me know if you tried this recipe and tag me on instagram @doughtodelight! Or try one of these other lemon recipes like this lemon poppy seed bites or this lemon muffins with oat crumble!