Sticky Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake - The Mark of Zorro

My sugar-reduced lemon and poppy seed cake - it's worth failing that drug test for.

Armed with my poppy seeds from a friend, I was eagerly on the lookout for a lemon poppy seed recipe and behold, this one popped up from Technicolor Kitchen. There's nothing really sticky about it but the lemon freshness comes through strongly, so it's a good recipe for lemon-lovers. It has a secret ingredient too - rolled oats, an ingredient that helps maintain moisture in cakes. Plus you get more fibre in your dessert. Rolled oat as you remember is the main ingredient in granolas and muesli. I should blog about the birscher muesli that I make regularly for breakfast.

Wash lemons thoroughly and grate only the yellow skin

Before baking. Think my batter is a bit too wet. 

50 minutes later at 180C. Looks like Zorro left his mark on my cake!

Recipe adapted from Technicolor Kitchen

Mine is a sugar-reduced version.

Ingredients (Serves 16)

Granulated sugar 224g (I used 150g and it's perfectly fine)

Unsalted butter 127g, softened

Canola oil 100ml

Finely grated zest 3 lemons

3 large eggs (I used 4 small ones)

Vanilla extract 1 tsp (I used 2 vanilla pods)

Hot water 60ml

All purpose flour 250g

Baking powder 2 tsp

Pinch of salt

Rolled oats, finely ground 75g

Poppy seeds, 3 Tbsp

To make the Syrup:

Granulated sugar 150g (I used half and it's still good)

Lemon juice 100ml

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Butter a 20cm square cake pan.

Beat sugar with butter, oil and lemon zest until pale and fluffy. 

Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Whisk hot water into egg mixture until smooth, then fold in sifted ingredients, the oats and poppy seeds.

Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50 min or until golden and a skewer comes out clean. 

As soon as cake is out of oven, make the syrup. Heat sugar with the lemon juice until dissolved, poke a skewer deep into the cake dozens of times, then spoon all the syrup over the top. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack.