I love cooking and especially baking for my family. My favorite recipes are ones that are simple, yet still delicious. I had to make a cake for a get together recently and decided to look for a new recipe. I found this Easy Lemon Poppy Seed Cake and did it impress!
This cake is light, moist, and has the perfect amount of lemon flavor. And I couldn’t believe just how easy it was to make either! It’s a good thing, because this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is so delicious, it doesn’t last long!
I made this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake for our church group and there wasn’t much left afterwards!
What You’ll Need to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Cake:
There’s two ways to make this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake: with a box mix or by scratch. I’ll give you both recipes here.
For the quickest way, you’ll need:
- 1 package (16 oz) pound cake
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 eggs
- 4 teaspoons Lemon Extract
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
For the glaze:
- 1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Extract
Preheat the oven to 350º. Add the cake mix, sour cream, water, eggs, and lemon extract to a large bowl
Beat on low speed until moistened. Then beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. (I beat it for about 2 minutes with my heavy duty mixer – I didn’t want to overdo it.)
Stir in the poppy seeds
and mix until well blended.
Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan.
Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the cake onto a wire rack and cool completely.
For the Lemon Glaze:
Mix 1.5 cups of confectioner’s sugar, 1 tablespoon of water, and 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Extract. If it’s too thick, add 1-3 more teaspoons of water until the glaze is smooth and of desired consistency.
Drizzle the cake with the glaze.
Slice and serve your delicious Lemon Poppy Seed Cake!
PrintEasy Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
This Easy Lemon Poppy Seed Cake recipe is moist and light with a perfect amount of lemon flavor and it’s so delicious, it never lasts long!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 8-10 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 package (16 oz) pound cake
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 eggs
- 4 teaspoons Lemon Extract
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- For the glaze:
- 1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º.
- Add the cake mix, sour cream, water, eggs, and lemon extract to a large bowl. Beat on low speed until moistened, then beat on medium for 3 minutes. Stir in the poppy seeds.
- Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the cake onto a wire rack and cool completely.
- For the glaze, mix the 1/2 tsp lemon extract with the confectioner’s sugar and water. If it’s too thick, add 1-3 more tbsp of water until lit’s smooth and the right consistency. Drizzle over the bundt cake.
For the completely homemade version of this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake, we slightly adapted a recipe from a favorite cookbook, “The Joy of Cooking“.
PrintLemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake
This cake is moist and light with a perfect amount of lemon flavor and so delicious, it never lasts long!
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8-10 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons of milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla
- 1 ½ C sifted flour
- ¾ C Sugar
- 3 TBSP Poppy Seeds
- 1 TBSP Grated Lemon Zest
- ¾ tsp Baking powder
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1 stick + 5 Tbsp softened salted butter
- 2 tsp lemon extract
- For the Glaze:
- 1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon Extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour one 6-cup fluted tube or Bundt pan or one 8 /2 x 4 ½ inch (6 cup) loaf pan. Line the bottom of the loaf pan with wax or parchment paper
- Whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, stir the flour, sugar, poppy seeds, lemon zest, baking powder, and salt.
- Add half the egg mixture to the flour mixture with the butter. Beat on low speed until the flour mixture is just moistened. Then increase the speed to high and beat for just 1 minute. Gradually add the remaining egg mixture and beat for about 30 seconds.
- Pour the batter into the greased and floured bundt pan and bake for 35-45 minutes until tests done.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the cake onto a wire rack and cool completely.
- For the glaze, mix the 1/2 tsp lemon extract with the confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice. If it’s too thick, add 1-3 more tbsp of water until lit’s smooth and the right consistency. Drizzle over the bundt cake.
Melissa says
Looks delicious!! I need a Bundt pan first!!
Erika says
I got mine at a garage sale for 50 cents! heehee
melissa says
This looks incredible! Thanks for sharing!
Shari Lynne says
Ok all I can say is..Mmmmm! I gotta make that for sure..my fam loves lemon! Thanks for sharing Erika!
Blessings
Erika says
We love lemon too – that’s partly why I decided on this recipe.
Ghada says
That looks really yummy – and so professional. Good luck!
Erika says
Thanks Ghada!
Melissa says
Hmmm, I might have to try this with cupcakes and freeze some – there are only two people in my house… we don’t need a whole cake to tempt us!
Erika says
That’s a great idea!
Kristen Fleming says
Chad and I both commented on the way home how yummy this cake was!!! Definitely a winner!
Erika says
Heehee, thanks Kristen! Have a good trip!
Heather McD says
That sounds like a great recipe. The pictures have me salivating.
JDaniel4's Mom says
Wow! Your cake looks wonderful. The vanilla fruit salad looks great too.
Erika says
The fruit salad is next on my “try” list!
Karenmarybutterfly says
That looks delicious. I’ll have to pin it into my Sweet treats from here so I can find it easily. Thanks for this recipe!!
Erika says
Great! Thanks for pinning!
Nina Kimwa says
It looks yummy!
Debbie Welchert says
This is definitely a maker. My grandkids would love it and so would I.
Maria Iemma says
Love bundt cakes and this is an easy and elegant cake to make. I will try the recipe next time my sister in law comes over. She loves lemon like I do.
Karla says
Lemon and poppyseeds are such a winning combination!
Liz Neal says
Sounds yummy and easy. My daughter would love this cake.