Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
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This lemon poppy seed cake is laced with fresh lemon zest, filled to the brim with nutty, crackly poppy seeds, and drizzled with a bright lemon glaze. It’s the perfect “company cake.”
A variation of my lemon pound cake, this lemon poppy seed cake is laced with fresh lemon zest, filled to the brim with nutty, crackly poppy seeds, and drizzled with a bright lemon glaze. The texture is just what you hope for in a homemade cake — moist and melt-in-your-mouth tender — and the cake keeps well for days. My grandmother would have called it a “company cake” since it’s the perfect treat to have on hand when friends and family come over.
The cake can be made in a Bundt pan or two 8½ x 4½-inch loaf pans. Before deciding which pans to use, please see the important notes at the bottom of the recipe. The cake keeps well for days on the countertop and freezes well, too. If you love the lemon and poppy seed combo, don’t miss my lemon poppy seed muffins!
What you’ll need to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
How to make lemon poppy seed cake
To begin: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds.
Whisk well and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk, lemon zest and lemon juice.
Whisk and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or beaters), combine the butter and sugar.
Cream on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat in the eggs one at a time.
Beat well after each addition.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl again. With the mixer on low speed, beat in one-quarter of the flour mixture.
Add one-third of the buttermilk mixture.
Beat in another quarter of the flour mixture, then another third of the milk mixture. Repeat with another quarter of the flour mixture and the remaining milk mixture. Finally, beat in the remaining flour mixture.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and give a quick mix to make sure all of the ingredients are well incorporated.
Spray the Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray and coat with sugar. Make sure the entire pan is covered.
Spoon the thick batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden and a cake tester comes out clean. 
Cool the cake in the pan for ten minutes on a rack. While the cake cools, make the syrup. Combine the water and granulated sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.
Invert the warm cake onto the rack. Slip a large piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil under the rack to catch all the drips from the syrup. Gradually brush the hot syrup over the cake, letting it soak in (a little syrup will drip off, but try not to rush so that most of it is absorbed). Allow the cake to cool completely, about one hour.
When the cake is cool, make the glaze. Stir the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl, mixing until completely smooth. Add more confectioners’ sugar if necessary to make a thick, opaque glaze (it should be thicker than you’d think — you want it the consistency of honey or molasses).
Carefully transfer the cake to a serving platter. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides.
How to Store and Freeze Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Let the glaze harden before slicing. The cake will keep nicely for 3 days if kept covered on the countertop. It can also be frozen (without the glaze) for up to 3 months. After it is completely cooled, double-wrap it securely with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap, or place it in heavy-duty freezer bag. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving. (Add the glaze after the cake is thawed.)
You may also like
- Warm Lemon Pudding Cakes
- Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake
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- Easy Lemon Meringue Pie
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Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
This lemon poppy seed cake is laced with fresh lemon zest, filled to the brim with nutty, crackly poppy seeds, and drizzled with a bright lemon glaze. It’s the perfect “company cake.”
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off with a knife
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup poppy seeds
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk (see note)
- Finely grated zest of 3 lemons (about 3 gently packed tablespoons)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 2¼ cups granulated sugar, plus more for the pan
- 3 large eggs
For the Syrup
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
For the Glaze
- About 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Spray a 10-inch Bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray and dust with sugar. Be sure the entire pan is coated (see note below).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk, lemon zest and lemon juice. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or beaters), cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again. With the mixer on low speed, beat in one-quarter of the flour mixture, then one-third of the buttermilk mixture. Beat in another quarter of the flour mixture, then another third of the milk mixture. Repeat with another quarter of the flour mixture and the remaining milk mixture. Finally, beat in the remaining flour mixture. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and give a quick mix with a rubber spatula to make sure all of the ingredients are well incorporated.
- Spoon the thick batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for ten minutes on a rack.
- While the cake cools, make the syrup. Combine the water and granulated sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.
- Invert the warm cake onto the rack. Slip a large piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil under the rack to catch all the drips from the syrup. Gradually brush the hot syrup over the cake, letting it soak in (a little syrup will drip off, but try not to rush so that most of it is absorbed). Allow the cake to cool completely, about one hour. When the cake is cool, carefully transfer it to a serving platter.
- To make the glaze: stir the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl, mixing until completely smooth. Add more confectioners' sugar if necessary to make a thick, opaque glaze (it should be thicker than you'd think -- you want it the consistency of honey or molasses). Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Let the glaze harden before slicing and serving the cake, about 15 minutes. The cake will keep nicely for 3 days if kept covered on the countertop.
- Note: If you’d like to make your own buttermilk, check out the easy method here.
- Note: You'll need 3 large lemons for this recipe
- Note: As the recipe indicates, I grease the Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray and then dust it with sugar. It has always worked beautifully for me, but a number of readers have mentioned problems with the cake sticking. If you’d prefer to use a different method, treat the pan by generously coating it with butter and then dusting it with flour, or use a nonstick baking spray with flour like Pam with Flour or Baker’s Joy. (Also, it's best not to use a Bundt pan with an intricate design for this cake, as they are more prone to sticking.) Another option (that is foolproof) is to use two 8½ x 4½-inch loaf pans instead of a Bundt pan. Loaf pans are much less prone to sticking, and you can line them with parchment paper for extra insurance. To prepare the loaf pans, spray them with nonstick baking spray, line the bottoms with parchment, and then spray them again. The bake time will be 50 to 60 minutes, and you will only need half of the soaking syrup.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cake can be frozen (without the glaze) for up to 3 months. After it is completely cooled, double-wrap it securely with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap, or place it in heavy-duty freezer bag. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving. (Add the glaze after the cake is thawed.)
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (16 servings)
- Calories: 369
- Fat: 14 g
- Saturated fat: 8 g
- Carbohydrates: 59 g
- Sugar: 40 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Sodium: 158 mg
- Cholesterol: 66 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I would like to make cupcakes with this recipe. would you know the oven temperature and how long I should cook for? I would like to even make them in a miniature muffin pan. My wife loves these when I buy them at the store but they don’t always have them.
That’s nice that you’d like to make them for your wife! I haven’t made this into mini muffins, but I think you could. I’d keep the oven temp the same and start checking them for doneness at 10 to 12 minutes. Hope that helps!
Is this in a fan-forced oven or conventional? Would you drop the temp, say to 150C, in a fan-forced oven?
Hi Natalie, I always test/post my recipes with the regular/conventional oven setting. If you use the fan-forced setting, the rule of thumb is to reduce the temp by 25°F. Enjoy!
OMG. Made it, perfect. Thank you!
Can you use Meyer lemons in this recipe instead of regular lemons?
Hi MK, I’ve never made this with Meyer lemons but you definitely can. Enjoy!
This is a fabulous cake. I made it exactly as written and everyone loved it. It was literally gone in 2 hours.
Every recipe that I have tried from this website has been excellent.
Made this for a work function, received lots of compliments. This is getting printed tonight to go into my “ultimate favorites” notebook. Absolutely divine!
This cake along with the lemon pound cake is amazing. It’s massive but soooo good. Thank you.
This was amazing – delicious!
Recipe was great! Made this for my in laws and they loved it.
What is best approach to making this dairy free?
HI Linda, I’ve never made this dairy-free. You’d have to use a dairy-free butter substitute like margarine and could try replacing the buttermilk with a dairy-free homemade buttermilk (here’s some guidance on that). I haven’t tried the cake with either of these substitutes so not sure how it will impact it, but it’s worth a try. Please let me know how it turns out if you try it!
Lovely light cake!
My 6 year old daughter was able to make this cake with minimal help so I wouldn’t say it’s a complicated recipe to follow.
It turned out beautifully and we ate it for afternoon tea.
The reason I didn’t give it five stars is because I don’t think it needs the syrup and icing glaze as it makes the cake far too sweet (and makes the sugar content far too high!) I would happily have it with either the syrup OR the glaze.
Thank you for the recipe, I will make it again for friends.
Hi Linda,
I’ve made this cake dairy free, cause i had no milk or butter at home when i wanted to bake. Instead of the buttermilk i’ve used coconut milk with lemon juice (each cup buttermilk=1 tbs lemon juice + coconut milk until you reach 1 cup, let it rest for 10 mins before using), instead of butter i’ve used shortening, that was left from Jenn’s pie crust recipe (butter contains water, shortening is only fat so 230 g butter = 184 g shortening + 24 g liquid (i’ve just added more coconut milk to the “fake buttermilk”)). i’ve made it before according to the recipe as well. i prefer the one with butter, husband prefers the dairy free version.
Great recipe either way! Thanks Jenn for sharing!
This cake was delicious! I followed the recipe exactly (used your suggestion for how to make buttermilk with milk and vinegar) and it was perfect. Loved that it was moist and a wonderful taste of lemon. I will definitely be making this again and sharing the recipe with friends. Thank you!
This tasted just like my Grandmother’s! The lemon flavor is perfect. I’ll be making this again very soon.