Thursday, November 29, 2012

Easy Lemon Poppy Seed Cake



This is my first ever attempt at making a Bundt cake.  Most normal people wouldn’t make their first food-related blog post on a first attempt at making a baked good, but I’m going to be an honest blogger and share both the good and the bad (and the sometimes ugly).  I found this Recipe from McCormick while searching for a way to use my homemade lemon extract so I could include a recipe with the lemon extract gift.  When I saw that it was easy, which means using a boxed cake mix, I thought it would be perfect as a Christmas gift for the busy moms I know that love to bake but may not be able to find time in this busy season. 




Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes


1 pkg. (16 oz.) pound cake mix

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup water
2 eggs
4 tsp. Pure Lemon Extract
2 tbsp. Poppy Seed

BEAT all ingredients, except Poppy Seed, in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just to moisten. Beat on medium speed 3 minutes.

STIR in Poppy Seed. Pour into greased and floured 10-cup Bundt pan.

BAKE in preheated 350°F oven 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert cake onto wire rack. Cool completely. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Makes 12 servings.


I rounded up all the ingredients, including my homemade lemon extract that has been sitting and “brewing” for about 9 days and my home-grown chicken eggs (we have 5 chickens, I’m sure you’ll hear all about them in future posts).  Since I’ve never made a Bundt cake, I have a hand-me-down pan that I don’t even remember where it came from.  This probably wasn’t the best pan to use, but sometimes you just have to make do with what you have on hand. 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour your Bundt pan REALLY well.  I used Pam and sprinkled a dusting of regular white flour on top.

Put all of the ingredients except for the poppy seeds in a large bowl.  Use your electric mixer on low to moisten ingredients then beat on medium for 3 minutes to make the batter light and a little fluffy. 



Stir in the poppy seeds and then transfer into the prepared Bundt pan.   Bake for approximately 40-50 minutes depending on your oven.  Cake is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.


Let cool for 10 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.  When I inverted my pan, the cake stuck a little and ripped apart. 



Definitely not a pretty cake and I think I need a new Bundt pan.  But what about taste?  That's all that really matters anyway, right?


The cake was less lemon-y than I expected, but it has a good flavor.  I think I’ll let my lemon extract brew for a couple weeks longer and if I make this recipe again, I’ll add some lemon zest to really enhance the lemon flavor.

Overall this recipe was super easy and I’ll definitely be attaching the recipe, cake mix and poppy seeds to my homemade lemon extract I’m gifting for Christmas.

If you want to make your own homemade lemon extract (it’s SUPER easy), check out my previous blog post.

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