Lemon Poppyseed Cake – Gluten Free!

I was in Denmark having a lovely afternoon coffee when I saw the most beautiful lemon poppyseed pastry in the coffee shop. Of course, I ordered a piece. As I ate it I thought hmm, I should come up with my own version!

Well, easier said than done. I tried twice, but each time the cake came out heavy and chewy. Delicious, lovely flavor, but too heavy. I finally tried a 3rd time by swapping ingredients, and found a winner!

This lemon poppy seed cake is delicious for a dessert, an afternoon snack, or even breakfast food, just be sure to omit the sugar icing on the top!

This cake is very simple to make, and it cooks fairly fast as well. If you love lemon foods as much as I do, I highly recommend you give it a try and let me know how you like it!

So without further ado…let us begin!

For the dry ingredients you will need:

1.5 cups gluten-free 1:1 flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp poppy seeds

For the wet ingredients you will need:

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 tbsp lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
3 tbsp lemon zest (about the equivalent of 1 lemon)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup almond or walnut milk (to learn how to make your own, see this link)

For the sugar icing you will need:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

Step 1:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients except the poppy seeds.

In a smaller bowl, add the butter, sugar, lemon juice, 2 tbsp of the lemon zest, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Next beat in the eggs. Make sure the butter is cool enough before adding the eggs or else it will start cooking them.

Step 2:

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix all together. Add the poppy seeds in last, and mix again.

Grease a baking tray for the cake. You can use a cake pan, a rectangular tray, a round mold, or anything else you have. I used small bread baking trays for my recipe.

Add the wet ingredients in and put in the oven. Bake 30-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. You can pop the cakes out of the tray to cool on a wire rack.

Step 4:

As the cake is baking, you can prepare the sugar glaze. In a container or large cup, mix the sugar and the lemon together. The mixture should be thick, spreadable and not runny.

Step 5:

When the cakes are cooled, add the icing on top, garnish with the extra tablespoon of lemon zest and serve.