The smell of poppy seed cake is always one of those great emotive scents for me. It stirs memories of Afternoon Tea on a Sunday when I was a young girl and my mother always baked a cake. I think it’s one of the earliest scents I can remember and without fail it now always reminds me of my mother.
I love this cake; it’s so unexpected and unusual with its crunchy texture, almost savoury scent and dotty appearance. It uses blue poppy seeds and so is part of that rare group of blue foodstuffs.
(Yes I know the picture is terrible - I took it after taking the cake to work and this is all that was left)
My Mum's Blue Poppy Seed Cake
Ingredients
· 110g (4oz) Blue poppy seeds
· 225ml (8floz) Milk
· 225g (8oz) butter or margarine
· 225g (8oz) light raw cane sugar
· 3 eggs (separated)
· 225g (8oz) plain whole meal flour
· 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Line and grease an 8 inch cake tin. Bring the poppy seeds to the boil in the milk, then turn off the heat and let them rest for at least 25 minutes in a covered pan.
Meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, and beat them in thoroughly. Mix the flour and baking powder together and fold into creamed mixture. Then stir in the soaked poppy seeds and milk. Next, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and fold them in carefully. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for at least 1 hour or until the centre feels firm and a skewer when inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let the cake stand in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out on to a cooling rack
