Two weeks ago, I had a conversation with a lovely gal about baking. She asked some hard-hitting questions like, “cake or pie?”
Girl, don’t make me choose!
If you’re wondering, I chose cake.
She couldn’t leave it at that, either. She pressed further, “why cake?”
Why not cake? There are so many aspects to cake that I love; tiers, multiple layers, icing, fillings, sprinkles. I’m sure my answer was something to that effect.
Cakes signify celebration. I think it’s weird to put a candle on a pie, just saying’. It marks holidays, birthdays, joyful celebrations. Plus, I find far more joy in assembling and decorating a cake than a pie. Pie is fun, but cake is better – more impressive and even humble, rustic cakes are masterpieces.
Also, I feel cake can be represented as breakfast food, or even morning snack food for that matter. If I bust out a slice of pie on my morning coffee break, I’m gonna get some weird looks, like “girl, pie in the morning? You’re out of your damn mind”.
Cake, namely coffee cake, is widely accepted. When I pull out a generous slice of my new favourite Lemon Poppy Seed Coffee Cake, everyone in the office will be singing my praises. Or at least that’s how I see things playing out. I’ll test this scientific theory at work tomorrow and keep you posted.
Lemon Poppyseed Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Streusel
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds
Coffee Cake
- 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp poppy seeds
- 1/4 cup sour cream
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan and lightly flour all sides. Set aside.
Streusel
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In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, salt and slivered almonds. Pour in about half the butter and mix. Keep adding more until the mixture forms a crumbly texture. You may not need to use all the butter, but you don't want extra flour kicking around the bottom of the bowl.
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Set aside.
Coffee Cake
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In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
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Add in eggs and beat until combined.
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Add in lemon zest and lemon juice and beat until well combined.
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In a separate medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
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Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix for about 20 seconds. Add in poppy seeds and sour cream. Beat until mixture is well combined.
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Transfer the batter into the prepared 8-inch pan. Spread the batter evenly with an offset spatula.
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Top with streusel.
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Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the coffee cake to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Run a knife around the outside edges to encourage it to release easily. Invert onto a plate, and then onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Recipe Notes
Recipe adapted from Bake from Scratch Magazine Vol 3 Issue 1
This is my favourite flavour combo! Can’t wait to try! xx
Mine too! Lemon Poppy Seed anything!!
This is so beautiful! I love coffee cakes, they’re so easy and can be changed easily with whatever ingredients we have on hand. Yum! I’d love to try this version with some spelt flour. MMmmm!
This cake looks so scrumptious. I can’t resist a little treat whenever I have my coffee. Plus, lemon is one of my top tastes!
Looks delicious and I’m sure my kitchen would smell like heaven while it bakes. During this gloomy time of year I’m looking for more comforting ways to use citrus to brighten up my household. This would be perfect!
I honestly feel that people who bake (and bring it to work) should include this point on our resumes. Seriously. It’s a major perk of them hiring me IMO. Baking makes people happier which increases productivity. It’s a fact.
And this scrumptious lemon poppy coffee cake is sure to be a winner.
I completely agree. It totally boosts moral around the workplace!
I was just looking for a new afternoon treat. I’m gonna add this to my to-do list for this weekend!
Awesome looking recipe. The crumb looks perfect, and the flavour combination is one of my favourites. I share your feelings about having to choose between pie and cake (WHY?). That being said, I promise that I would not look at you cock-eyed for busting out some morning pie. In fact, maybe we can make Coffee Pie at thing. I’d be on board with that.