It’s September 1st today and I had a long walk in my favourite part of Helsinki nature with a summer top and shorts today. It was a beautiful summer-ish day. I even had a tiny sun tan on my nose. But before going out, I made a cake that fit this beautiful warm day perfectly: a lemon and poppy seed cake.

 

 

A lemon cake always makes me think of summer, because if you do it right, it’s perfectly refreshing. What would you want more from a cake in summer?

 

 

 

This cake is so easy to make that you will be addicted to it. And the ingredients are mostly very easy to find and may even be lingering around in your kitchen regularly. Poppy seeds may not be found often in your kitchen, but after baking this cake once, you might want to keep a big jar of it to be able to make this cake again and again.

 

 

I adapted this recipe from “Eggless Cooking” blog, but I made quite a bit of changes. I used granulated white sugar only to keep the colour of the cake light. In Finland, granulated white sugar is vegan – but I read that in US it may be different. So beware of it, if you are in the US. Also, instead of using avocado oil, I just used the vegetable oil I had at home, which was rapeseed oil. But you can use any plant-based oil you like / you have. Finally, I didn’t use almond extract, because first of all I don’t like the taste of almond extract, secondly I didn’t want anything to overcome the lemon taste.

 

So if you want to have a light, refreshing, easy and quick cake, this is the one for you. Enjoy!

 

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Ingredients:

 

Difficulty: Easy
(makes 1 loaf cake, inside of the pan size 23x9cm)

 

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

 

5 dl (or 2 cups) all-purpose flour
3 dl (or 1 1/4 cups) granulated white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
2.5 dl (or 1 cup) water in room temperature
1 dl + 4 tsp (or 1/2 cup) rapeseed oil (or any plant-based oil you prefer), plus more to grease the pan
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
zest of 1 large lemon
3 tbsp poppy seeds

 

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1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a loaf pan with size 23x9cm and cover base and 2 sides with a baking paper.

 

2. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

 

 

 

 

 

3. In a medium bowl, put water, oil and lemon juice and whisk well.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Add flour mixture and whisk just until no lumps remain.

 

 

 

5. Add lemon zest and poppy seeds and whisk just until all ingredients are incorporated.

 

 

 

 

6. Pour the cake into the greased pan. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles. Put in the oven, in medium rack and bake for about 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. When it’s out of the oven, let it cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes, then take it out and let it cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy with tea or coffee or any other drink you prefer, but most importantly, enjoy with friends!