Usually I try to follow new recipes to the letter, but this time I had some reservations against that. Firstly, the recipe required 6 eggs; 2 whole and 4 egg whites. I have nothing against baking with eggs, but 6 felt a bit too extravagant for 'just a cake' (must be my Dutch nature playing up). So I brought that down to 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites. Secondly, if you follow this recipe properly, you need 4 bowls. I don't know how large your kitchen is, but I do not have 4 mixing bowls. Thirdly, the glazing required 250 grams of icing sugar, which is sweet enough to reduce your teeth to rotting black stumps. So I reduced that to more normal proportions. And finally, to whisk egg whites, you need a very clean bowl and very clean mixer. According to the recipe, I had to mix all the other ingredients first, then clean the whisks, and then whisk the egg whites. What with all the bowls and organisation going on already, this felt like too much hassle. So I whisked the egg whites before doing anything else, thus probably violating about 3 Main Baking Laws, but making my own life a little easier.
So, that brings me to the actual story:
Ingredients:
200 g butter, at room temperature
200 g white muscavado sugar
2 whole eggs
peel and juice of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons poppy seed
200 g flour
5 g baking powder
2 (or 4) egg whites
For the glazing:
juice of one lemon
120 (or 250) g icing sugar
You can make this cake in either a loaf tin or a round tin. I used a round tin, to get a more 'cakey' feeling, and because this gives you bigger slices to serve to friends (I always try to bake when I know people will be visiting, so I won't have to eat too much cake). Anyway, grease the tin and line with baking parchment. Preheat your oven to 170 C.
I started by mixing the egg whites together with a pinch of salt until firm enough for the bowl to be held upside down. Officially, this step is after the adding of the dry ingredients to the wet.
Mix the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between. Add the lemon peel, juice and poppy seeds and mix well.
Sift the flour and baking powder together over the mixture, and spoon through until the mixture is smooth.
Add the whisked egg whites; first add one spoonful and incorporate this well, then add the rest and stir until combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 30 minutes.
This cake has a relatively high sugar content, so it will brown quickly. Do not be fooled into thinking it is more baked than it is; an underbaked cake will collapse (as mine did). Also, it will stick to the tin, so make sure to grease the tin really really well.
When your cake is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for a couple of minutes before turning it out.
To make the glazing, simply mix the lemon juice and icing sugar until you have a runny consistency. Pour over the (slightly cooled) cake and leave to harden.
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| Not an optical illusion: that is quite a dip in the middle. |
Now, as I mentioned, my cake had collapsed slightly in the middle. This meant that all the glazing pooled into the dip in the middle, making the first small bites from the middle very very lemony. Also, the 'crust' stuck to the tin when I took it out, so bits of the 'crust' were lost as trimmings
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| Pretty, pretty crumb structure! |
But the texture of the cake came out perfect. Not just light, as the recipe says, but almost fluffy. This may well be one of the best cakes I've ever made, crumb structure wise. Even Mary Berry may have been impressed. The poppy seed taste came out well, although the lemon is a bit too strong in comparison. I will use less lemon juice in the glazing in the future, as it takes away from the actual cake taste. But otherwise, it was pretty close to perfect, and I won't wait another 6 years before making another lemon and poppy seed cake.
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