Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

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This delicious Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is such a refresher for a Spring or Summer dessert. This post contains affiliate links.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is a Delicious Dessert Option

This Lemon Poppy Seed cake is a refresher during the Spring and Summer but can be a delicious dessert option for so many events such as parties, birthdays, Easter, Large Dinners, and so much more. It’s tasty and will love beautiful as a table centerpiece. Not to mention, the flavor of lemon – what’s not to love?

Our Family Loves it!

The first time I decided to try out Lemon Poppy Seed cake I didn’t know that the kids would enjoy it. In fact, I didn’t know if I would enjoy it too. To my surprise, the cake was a hit especially among the kids. I couldn’t figure out why. After all, it had poppy seeds in it, something we’d never tried before. Plus I didn’t think that the kids would enjoy having little seeds in their cake. But I wanted to try it out.

I think I have a phone photo of them eating that cake the very first time I made it. They just kept asking for more and more so I kept giving them (within limits of course). One of our daughters who is very particular of what she puts in her mouth surprised me the most when she exclaimed how good the cake was. I didn’t follow a recipe. I looked up how to use poppy seeds in cake but the recipe itself was my own. I have experience with making cake from the many cakes mom baked when we were growing up. So I used one of the recipes from memory then added the poppy seed. It was so good. Since then, I’ve made this cake about 2 other times, one of them using a lemon cake mix. But there’s nothing like cakes made from scratch. When I made this recipe again to share it on the blog, it too was a big hit. So here it is – our lemon poppy seed cake recipe. Hope you enjoy.

Ingredients for Cake

2-1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Sticks Butter
1 Cup Cane Sugar
5 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
2 TBSP Poppy Seeds
1 TBSP Baking Powder

Frosting

4 -1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Stick Softened Butter
1/4 Cup Cream Cheese Softened
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 TBSP Milk
Yellow Gel Food Coloring (I used an all-natural kind)

Baking Directions:

Preheat the oven for 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 9-inch round baking pans. Set aside.
Mix butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs and lemon juice. Stir in milk and poppy seed mixture. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together flour and baking powder.
Stir in flour mixture until fully combined with wet ingredients.
Bake for 23-25 minutes or until lightly brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan about 10 minutes then remove to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Frosting Directions:

Mix butter and cream cheese until blended and there are no lumps
Add in lemon juice.
Mix in powdered sugar and food coloring.
If mixture is too stiff, add a little it of milk until you get a desired consistency.
Frost the cake (see photos below for how to frost)

Below you can see some of the steps in the photos

Step 1: Place one of the cakes for the bottom layer on a cutting board. Shave off extra height to make it level. Then place it on a cake stand and frost (I used the white frosting here).