Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Strawberries and Cream Cheese Frosting

Its official. I bought a new sneakers.

I also signed up for a one year gym membership.

I understand that my baking / food blog is probably not the best place to share the news of my current health awakening, but I want a place to rant, and this is probably the best place.

Exercise is like meditation. Although I believe in the power and importance of meditation, I just cant get myself to do it. Same like exercise.

Being a full time working mom of two very needy kids doesn’t help.

My ultimate fantasy would be to lose weight, whilst eating buttercream frosted cake, watching Seinfeld on the sofa, exercising my toes in counter clock wise motion

That’s probably never going to happen. The only exercise I currently get aside from picking up my two daughter both at once, is walking from my car to the parking, and I always park my car as close to work /home as possible. You’d do the same if you lived in a place where temperature is 50 Degree Celsius (120 Degree Fahrenheit)

Where does this health awakening leave my blog?

Just because am exercising doesn’t mean am going to give up baking. Exercise will not cure my sweet tooth. But to be fair, it make me think twice before serving myself a second or third slice of cake whilst convincing myself that its totally ok and under control. You’ll probably notice a few more healthy posts, but i doubt my sweet tooth will ever be cured.

Ok rant over. Now back to food. And specifically this cake. Lemon Poppy seed cake with Strawberries and Cream Cheese Frosting

My mom was generous enough to send me a bag of poppy seeds. I jumped up and down when I got my hand on them, as I’ve not been able to find any poppy seeds where I live, so when my mom bestowed her generosity upon me, I was simply thrilled. After all that’s what mother’s are for. Providing their kids with what they need.

The recipe is adapted from Pillsbury. I opted to use strawberries because its my daughter’s favorite berry. I also made cream cheese frosting instead of the traditional sugar glaze.

The cake is perfect for brunch or an afternoon cup of coffee. Of course lemon complement the poppy seed really well, yet, the lemon taste is not very pungent. So if you’re not a lemon lover (how can anyone not love lemon?) then you’ll still like this cake.

When I made this cake, I used thawed strawberries that I drained and mashed with a fork. Next time I make this I will opt to use fresh strawberries chopped.

Print Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Strawberries and Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Yield: 10 - 12 servings

Serve this over brunch or at an afternoon coffee break, either way, everyone will love this. Adapted from Pillsbury

Ingredients

Cake
• 1 1/2 cups (173g) Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
• 2 tbsp poppy seed
• 1 tsp baking soda (aluminum free)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup (135g) white sugar
• 1/2 cup (113g) butter, softened
• 2 tsp grated lemon peel
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (115g) sour cream
Filling
• 2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed, drained on paper towels
• 1/3 cup (66g) sugar
• 2 tbsp Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Frosting
• 1 packet (220g) cream cheese (like Philadelphia), room temperature
• 4 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
Decoration
• 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, chopped

Steps

Make the cake
1. Preheat oven to 180C / 350 F / Gas mark 4. Grease and flour bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan.
2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, poppy seed, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In large bowl using stand or handheld mixer, combine the sugar and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add lemon peel and egg; beat 2 minutes at medium speed.
4. Alternate between the flour mixture and the sour cream, add to sugar and butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
Make the filling
5. Combine the filling ingredients, making sure not to smash the berries, like I did :-|
6. Spread the batter over bottom and 1 inch up sides of greased and floured pan, making sure batter on sides is 1/4 inch thick. Add the filling on top.
7. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool for10 minutes before removing the cake ring.
8. Cool completely before spread the cream cheese frosting.
Make the frosting
9. Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the milk and powdered sugar.
10. Spread over the cake, top with fresh strawberries.
11. Enjoy.

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So, what do you think of this cake? and more importantly, where you stand on gyms and running shoes? I love to hear from you.

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