Keep this delicious cake
in the fridge.
2 sticks butter (8 ounces
total), very soft
2 teaspoons vanilla
11 /4 cups sugar
2 heaping tablespoons
local honey
3 eggs
12 /2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
15 /3 ounces poppy seeds
(2/3 of 8-ounce jar)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
concentrate
dash vanilla – yes, a second vanilla amount 🙂
butter or butter papers for
greasing
sugar
Beat 2 teaspoons vanilla
into 2 sticks of soft butter.
1Beat 1 /4 cups sugar and 2

heaping tablespoons honey into butter mixture.

Beat in eggs.

Refrigerate batter for at least 1/2 hour or until batter is still “stirrable” but firmer.

Combine flour with baking powder.

Boil poppy seeds in milk and then let sit for 10 minutes in a cool place. Stir in lemon juice and dash of vanilla. Then taste and adjust seasoning as needed: if poppy seeds taste 1a little bitter, add /4 teaspoon vanilla and some swirls of honey and a tiny dash of lemon juice (lemon juice lends the cake freshness but too much flavors the whole cake lemon, which you don’t want; you want just a background fresh taste.)

Stir in small amount of cooling poppy seed-milk mixture to the batter very very quickly so you don’t cook the eggs.

Alternate with flour mixture. Repeat several times but do not overmix.

Stir until just combined.

Let batter cool in fridge while you butter (using the butter papers if desired) and sugar (yes, that is sugar and not flour) a 10-cup bundt pan.

Pour batter into the buttered and sugared bundt cake pan and level it.

Bake at 350-degrees F for 40 minutes or until a knife or skewer comes out clean.

Keep in fridge. Do not try to cut pieces until poppy seed cake has completely cooled or it will crumble.

This is a rich cake that stays moist and sweet, without additional frosting.

Keep poppy seed cake in the fridge: You may pre-cut the cake into thick slices or not, but in any case, keep the cake covered with a glass cover or upside down glass bowl or the cake will dry out. The fridge keeps this cake cool and delicious, especially for summer.

— Mel Baker is an experienced chef, caterer and cafe manager. She resides in York County and has published “The Noisy Oven” since 2006. Email her a [email protected].