Poppy Seed Tea Cake With Cardamom Streusel Food

LEMON POPPY-SEED TEA CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch (8-cup capacity) loaf pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds; set aside.
• In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar on high until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; mix in vanilla and lemon zest. With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture in two parts and milk in one, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
• Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. In a medium saucepan, bring lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar; set syrup aside.
• Remove cake from oven. While cake is still in pan, poke several holes in top with a toothpick. Set aside 2 tablespoons syrup; pour remainder over cake. Cool cake completely in pan, about 2 hours. Turn cake out of pan; place, right side up, on a platter, and brush all over with reserved syrup. Store, covered, at room temperature for up to 3 days.

POPPY SEED TEA CAKE

Steps:

• Make the cake: Center a rack in the oven and heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8 1/2-inch loaf pan. Place the pan on 2 stacked baking sheets or an insulated baking sheet.
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Put the sugar in a large bowl, add the lemon or tangerine zest, and rub together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the eggs, one by one, whisking each vigorously before adding the next. Whisk in the juice and vanilla, and then whisk in the heavy cream until smooth.
• Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, using the whisk to gently stir the dry ingredients into the batter. When the flour is incorporated, add the butter in 2 additions, again stirring gently with the whisk. You should have a thick, smooth, shiny batter. Switch to a flexible spatula and stir in the poppy seeds. Scrape the batter into the pan.
• Bake until the cake has risen and cracked along the center and, most important, a tester inserted deep into the cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Take a look at it after about 45 minutes and tent it loosely with foil if it's getting too dark too fast.
• Transfer the pan to a rack, cool for 5 minutes, and then run a table knife between the cake and the sides of the pan. Unmold the cake, then turn it right side up onto the rack. Cool to room temperature.
• Make the glaze, if you like: Stir together the confectioners' sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice until smooth. If needed, add more juice, a drop at a time, until you have an icing that falls slowly from the tip of a spoon. Spread it over the cooled cake to coat evenly, sprinkle with poppy seeds and let stand until set. Wrapped well, the cake will keep at room temperature for about 4 days; unglazed, it can be frozen for up to 1 month.

POPPY SEED TEA CAKE WITH CARDAMOM STREUSEL

Steps:

• For streusel: Mix all ingredients in small bowl until moist clumps form.
• For cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 12-cup angel food cake pan with removable bottom. Sift first 5 ingredients twice into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in sour cream, juice, peel and vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients to blend. Mix in poppy seeds. Transfer batter to prepared pan (batter will fill less than half of pan).
• Bake cake 25 minutes. Sprinkle streusel over top of cake. Continue to bake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Using small knife, cut around sides of pan and center tube to loosen cake. Push cake up. Cut cake free from pan bottom. Transfer cake to platter.

CARROT COFFEE CAKE WITH POPPY SEED STREUSEL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease a Bundt or tube pan.
• In a food processor, grind the carrots for 1 to 2 minutes, almost to a puree. Remove them to a small bowl and set aside.
• Grind the streusel ingredients in the food processor for 1 minute.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom(if using), baking powder and soda, and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, ground carrots, poppy seeds, and sour cream. Add the liquid mixture to the dry, stirring with a wooden spoon. Transfer half the batter to the cake pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel onto the batter, then pour the remaining half of the batter over the streusel. Top with the remainiing streusel.
• Bake the cake for 1 hour or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in its pan for 30 minutes. Invert it onto a serving dish. Serve the coffeecake at room temperature. Enjoy!