Light Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Sweet Treats

A few of my Twentysomething and the City followers requested a light dessert recipe for the summer. You ask, I deliver. Ever since I was a kid, I've had a love affair with glazed lemon poppy seed muffins (Gelson's muffin tops to be more specific)...

Whoever invented the muffin top is a genius.

...so when I stumbled upon this heavenly Lemon Poppy Seed Cake recipe, I nearly fainted. After baking this amazing, light, and "sweet-but-not-too-sweet" cake, I ate it for breakfast and dessert.

Ingredients:

*I halved the following recipe to make 1, 9-inch round cake

**8 servings, 250 calories/serving

• Cake
• 3 cups cake flour (I used all-purpose flour and it turned out great)
• 1 & 3/4 cups sugar
• 4 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup poppy seeds
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• Zest of 1 large lemon
• 1 & 1/4 cups reduced fat buttermilk
• 5 egg whites
• Lemon Glaze
• 1/3 cup water
• Juice of 1 large lemon
• 1/4 cup sugar

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour your cake pan(s).

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and poppy seeds in a mixing bowl:

3. Add butter and most of the buttermilk (set aside a few tablespoons of buttermilk). Mix until fully incorporated by beating for 1-2 minutes:

4. In a separate bowl, whisk remaining buttermilk with the egg whites. Gradually pour this egg mixture into the batter and mix until combined. Pour the batter into your baking pan(s) and bake for roughly 25 minutes (do not overbake - immediately remove from the oven when inserted knife comes out clean):

5. While cake cools, mix the water, lemon juice, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, continue to boil, then reduce down until the glaze appears to thicken up and reduce in volume:

6. Brush the hot syrup over the cake and let it cool completely before serving. The cake will last (in an airtight container) for a few days and is even tastier once the syrup fully soaks into the cake! Enjoy!

This cake is essentially Angel Food Cake (my favorite, yum) with poppy seeds and a hint of lemon flavor. It is moist, fluffy, and to die for. I know this is extremely hard to believe, but if you halve the recipe and make one single-layer cake with glaze, a slice (1/8th of the cake) is only 250 calories!!! Quite a light dessert if you can stop yourself after one slice...

Recipe to print: