Lemon and Poppy Seed Pound Cake (makes 12 slices)

Lemon and Poppy Seed Pound Cake by The Fat Foodie

Pound cakes are so called because they are an American type of cake that uses a pound each of butter, sugar, flour and eggs to create the cake. They are normally baked in a loaf tin and drizzled with icing sugar or a sugar glaze and then served in slices. This lemon and poppy seed pound cake has a base of gluten-free flour and ground almonds, but although almonds become high FODMAP at servings of over 12g, this cake yields a total of 12 slices which keeps the FODMAP quota low.

I’ve fancied making a lemon cake for quite a while because I think it’s a lovely fresh summer cake, but I hadn’t really found the time to do so. However, the other day I discovered some beautiful flowers in the garden that I knew would look stunning on top of a lemon and poppy seed pound cake.

Now, I know we shouldn’t pick wildflowers, but when I saw that I had some cornflowers growing in my garden as a result of a bee-friendly wildflower seed mix I’d optimistically thrown down at the start of the summer I couldn’t resist picking a few flower heads to scatter their beautiful azure blue petals over the top of this cake. I’d also picked a handful of plump, ripe blue-black blackberries as I was walking home the other day which I thought would be a lovely taste contrast to add to the cake. (Exercise caution when using edible flowers and only use them if you’re absolutely certain about the variety you’re using. A comprehensive list of flowers which are safe to eat can be found here.)

After I’d taken the lemon and poppy seed pound cake out of the oven and let it cool down I drizzled it with icing sugar, scattered the cornflower petals over the top and plonked the blackberries on. Needless to say, that evening after dinner we enjoyed a generous slice of the lemon-infused cake that married wonderfully with the sweet, tart blackberries. Long live summer!

Ingredients:

140g ground almonds

1 tbsp poppyseeds

100g gluten-free flour (I use Dove’s Farm G/F flour because it’s made with low FODMAP ingredients whereas many other gluten-free flours are made with high FODMAP options.)

2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp xanthan gum

150g sugar

120ml vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tsps lemon extract

120ml rice milk

2 tsps lemon juice

For decoration:

Icing sugar

Dried cornflowers

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C/160 Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4.

Line a two pound loaf tin with greaseproof paper. (I buy these greaseproof loaf tin liners and they make life so much easier!)

In a large mixing bowl, mix all of your wet ingredients together and then mix in the dry ingredients.

Once it’s all combined, pour your cake batter into the loaf tin, smooth it out and bake it in the oven for around 50 mins to an hour. Don’t worry if it needs a little longer. (You’ll know it’s baked when a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean.)

Once it’s baked, let it cool on a cooling rack.

Make some icing by mixing icing sugar with a little water at a time until it just coats the back of a spoon. Once your cake is cool, drizzle it with some icing sugar and add any decoration you like. Serve.

Lemon and Poppy Seed Pound Cake by The Fat Foodie

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