Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake Recipe

This blog is part of a 6-part series on recipes featuring our new line of organic flavor extracts. Stay tuned for more flavor inspiration coming soon!

Long before I learned how to read, much of my time as a young girl was spent perched in a particularly sunny window, staring wide-eyed at vibrantly illustrated picture books. My fascination with eye-catching imagery quickly evolved from kids’ books to another type of illustrative literature that my mom kept an impressive collection of: cookbooks! Something about flipping through page after page of appealing images woven with thoughtfully crafted recipes has always filled my empty stomach with inspiration, and is what I credit to leading me to be the culinarian I am today.

There’s one recipe for a lemon poppy seed Bundt cake that captured a depiction of its bright, nutty flavor so perfectly that the image has stuck with me all these years later. Before developing this recipe, the only problem with that enticing image of a thick slice of cake is that it has remained just that, only an image. Admittedly, it’s not all too often that I find the time or energy to whisk my recipe dream board into anything beyond but a delicious figment of my imagination. However, with the recent return of our organic flavor extracts, I felt it was about time I brought my own take on this mouthwatering memory to life.

Citrus-drenched with sweet, tangy lemons, speckled with the nutty, slight crunch of poppy seeds, and baked to succulent, golden perfection, this Bundt cake recipe is quite literally a dream come true. The addition of organic lemon flavor extract sets each slice apart with an extra tangy bite of lemon essence, without overpowering the delicate notes of poppy seeds. Watching this recipe come to life was a true full-circle moment, and I hope to offer all you herb-enthusiast readers the same inspiration that I once found in my sunny window nook, lost in cookbook dreamland.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake Recipe

Makes one Bundt cake. 

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. fine sea salt
• 1/3 cup organic poppy seeds
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk *See Pro-Tips for easy homemade alternative
• 1 tsp. organic lemon extract
• 1 tsp. organic vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 – 4 lemons)
• 3 Tbsp. lemon zest
  
  

Lemon Syrup

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• Peel of 1 lemon
  
  

Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 – 3 Tbs fresh lemon juice
  
  

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F and thoroughly grease Bundt pan. Set aside.
• Over a fine mesh strainer, sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk in poppy seeds. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy, about 3 – 4 minutes.
• Add the eggs, vanilla extract, lemon extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix until well-combined.
• Using a rubber spatula, gradually fold in dry ingredients in about four intervals, alternating with drizzles of buttermilk until the batter begins to come together. Be careful not to overmix!
• Transfer batter to greased Bundt pan. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes. You’ll know the cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Remove cake from oven and allow to cool while prepping the lemon syrup.
• To make the lemon syrup, combine sugar, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stirring constantly, heat mixture until sugar fully dissolves and a smooth, thin consistency is achieved. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Flip cooled Bundt cake onto a wire rack placed over a large baking sheet (things are about to get messy!). Spoon generous amounts of syrup evenly on top of the cake. Set aside while prepping the lemon glaze.
• To make the lemon glaze, simply whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice together and drizzle over the fully cooled cake. Garnish with lemon zest and an extra sprinkle of poppy seeds, if desired.
• Slice, serve, and savor!
  
  

Pro Tips

• If you don't have buttermilk, you can mix 2 tsp. lemon juice into 1 cup milk (full-fat works best) and allow to sit for 10 minutes until slightly curdled.

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