Whether with icing or not, beautifully decorated or just lightly dusted with sugar, this sourdough cake is guaranteed to become the star of your spring feast. The irresistible aroma of lemon combined with poppy seeds has been proven over the years, and combined with the buttery dough enriched with sourdough, you'll have a unique, moist, decadent yet fresh dessert or a sweet breakfast!
I have to say that this time I really messed up my head when thinking of a name for this yummy cake. It is obvious that it is a lemon dessert, but the poppy seeds are used in small amounts, so may I still call it poppy seed? Okay, so let's say it's with poppy seeds, and now what about the shape? Is what I'm using a bundt cake tin or a loaf tin? Wouldn't I rather bake it in a muffin tin so it's obvious right away? But the amount of batter is just right for this cake tin. Well, let's call it a cake. Yeah, and you can use sourdough starter. Well, actually, you have to, and should I call it sourdough cake? But sourdough isn't the main ingredient here, anyway it's gonna be sourdough.
So why a cake with added sourdough starter? Because you can add a large amount of wheat sourdough or its discard and still absolutely enjoy it.
I recently shared with you my method of feeding and maintaining sourdough starter, that I have been using for years. It's a totally simple method that saves time, your energy and you could also say money. In fact, with this method of maintaining a sourdough starter, you don't have to throw away any leftover sourdough starter! But there is one thing. You must have the BEST SOURDOUGH RECIPES in your stash, which I want to share with you here!
Why add sourdough starter to batter?
Sourdough starter is most often used for leavening and making delicious sourdough bread, but it is just as great for baking any other baked goods. If you don't want to use sourdough starter, what's stopping you from just adding it to the dough or batter? If you add it to the batter with baking powder and baking soda, like I use in this recipe, it has nothing but benefits!
Let's take a look together at what are the benefits of adding sourdough starter to any dough:
- you can get rid of sourdough discard, which can be older and inactive and can come straight from the fridge
- you will add "more digestible" flour to your dessert, which will also make it more filling
- thanks to the sourdough starter, the dough is wonderfully moist, just as if you used kefir or buttermilk in the batter
- With softness also comes taste! The sourdough starter adds extra depth to the your baked goods, and it also means it won't dry out quickly, so it stays moist for longer
- adding sourdough starter to dough can also improve the shelf life of food
What sourdough starter can be used in sourdough lemon poppy seed cake?
As far as keeping the sourdough starter, I have had success with adding any wheat flour. Winter wheat, spelt, red wheat, kamut, einkorn, in freshly milled form, whole wheat or all purpose packaged flour from the supermarket. I have tried and tested all of these and they all work great in my sourdough starter. Therefore, all of those types will work in this recipe too!
For sourdough starter, though, I like to stick with wheat varieties only. If you want to make buckwheat or rye sourdough starter or even try other experiments, I recommend making a sourdough starter separately using 1 tbsp of wheat sourdough starter. As long as you use 75g of any flour and 75g of water for the starter, you can safely use it in this sourdough lemon and poppy seed cake recipe too!
Jak mohu v těstě kvásek nahradit?
Of course, the recipe works without sourdough starter too ! If you don't have it or just don't want to use sourdough starter, just add an extra 75 g of flour and 75 g of water. You can also use buttermilk, kefir or milk instead of water.
How to make sourdough lemon poppy seed cake?
In a small saucepan , weigh out the butter and let it heat up on the stove. It is best to leave some of the butter unheated. It will melt over time as the butter stands, which will cool the butter overall, so you don't have to wait as long for it to cool completely.
Into it go the rest of the ingredients. That is, the eggs, room temperature milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, sourdough starter, ground vanilla or vanilla extract and mix with a whisk.
Finally, add the slightly cooled melted butter to the batter and stir. Grease a loaf or cake tin with butter, sprinkle with coarse flour and pour the batter into the prepared tin.
Bake at 150/170 °C for about 50 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Once baked, turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
How to decorate sourdough lemon poppy seed cake
This cake is delicious drizzled with lemon icing . Depending on how much icing you want on the cake, you can adjust the amount of icing. Just mix the sifted sugar (I used 2 tbsp) in a bowl and then add the lemon juice drop by drop until the icing is runny. Spread the icing evenly on the cooled cake, which is best done with a piping bag.
You can also grate lemon zest over the top of the icing and sprinkle a few poppy seeds on top if you like! If you want to make the cake extra special, there's nothing against adding some edible rose petals, sugar pearls or other decorations. 🙂
TIPS:
- instead of lemon, you can also try other citrus fruits, such as lime, orange or grapefruit!
- The cake can also be baked in other shapes - in a bundt cake tin, rectangle tin, cake tin or muffin tin. I have tried all versions and I found the loaf tin is best for this type of batter, especially in terms of appearance
- instead of cow's milk, you can use a plant-based milk alternative, such as my oat coffee creamer
- Don't you like the idea of poppy seeds crunching between your teeth? You might as well skip it! Or replace it with coarsely chopped nuts or even dark chocolate.
Anyone else here love the lemon-chocolate combination?
Recipe
Recipe for 1 loaf
Sourdough lemon poppy seed cake
Ingredients:
- 300 g spelt flour or all purpose flour
- 2 tsp (8 g) baking powder
- 1 ČL (9 g) jedlé sody
- 1 tsp (9 g) baking soda
- 170 g caster sugar (some of which may be cane sugar)
- pinch of salt
- 150 g wheat sourdough starter (can also be whole grain and inactive)
- 250 g milk or plant-based alternative
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- zest of 1 whole lemon
- a pinch of ground vanilla or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 120 g butter
Instructions:
- In a small saucepan, weigh out the butter and let it heat up on the stove.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, unground poppy seeds, sugar, salt and stir.
- Add to the bowl the rest of the ingredients: the eggs, room temperature milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, sourdough starter, ground vanilla or vanilla extract and mix with a whisk.
- Finally, add the slightly cooled melted butter to the batter and stir.
- Grease a loaf or cake tin with butter, sprinkle with coarse flour and pour the batter into the prepared tin.
- Bake at 150/170 °C for about 50 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Once baked, turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool. And if you want, decorate with lemon icing.
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Dobrý den, včera jsem tento chlebíček pekla poprvé a musím říct, že je naprosto famózní a to jsem poměrně náročná! 😀
Použila jsem rostlinné ovesné mléko a kvásek mám založený podle Vás z celozrnné špaldové mouky.
Určitě ozkouším více Vašich receptů a už se moc těším!
Děkuji a ať se Vám daří!
Dobrý den Radko,
před pár dny jsem upekla tento chlebíček a musím říct, že je naprosto vynikající jak chutí, tak strukturou… a ten krásně křupající mák!
Pšeničný (špaldový) kvásek jsem si nedávno vyrobila podle Vašeho receptu, dosud jsem kváskovala pouze s žitným kváskem a pekla pouze chléb.
Děkuji za skvělý recept!
m.
Dobrý den, mockrát děkuji! Taky mám tenhle chlebíček moc ráda. 🙂 a jsem moc ráda, že se vám s kváskem daří!
Kvásek jsem si založila podle vašeho postupu.Peču z kvásku též vše podle vás, aby se spotřebovával kvásek a nejen proto. Všechny vaše recepty jsou vychytané. Dnes tento chlebíček opět skvělý.
Úžasné, těší mě, že se vám podle mých receptů daří! 🙂
Milá Radko, tohle je velká mňamka. Nikdy jsem citronové buchty a bábovky nemusela. Ale před nedávnem jsem dostala kvásek a nyní ho posiluju, a bylo mi líto ty „zbytky“ vyhodit. A pak jsem objevila váš blog. No řekla jsem si, že je to znamení že mám dát šanci i chutím, které tolik nemusím. A jsem nadšená. Do chlebíčku putoval žitný kvásek a taky to parádně funguje. Je měkoučký, voňavý a ten mák krásně křupe. Pekla jsem až pozdě večer a proto jsem se vykašlala na estetiku a jen to nalila do remosky, takže i toto jsem otestovala. Nu sedím tady s kafem a snídám citronový chlebíček, mých pár minut klidu než začne kolotoč s dvěma malými dětmi. Moc vás zdravím, děkuji za inspiraci a jdu se mrknout co podle vás upeču příště 🙂
Hezký den a moc děkuji za komentář 🙂 super, že recept funguje i do remosky!
Jedinečné!!! Delikatesni!!! Vyzkoušela jsem od Vás již více kváskovych receptů a všechny jsou perfektní. Přeji Vám mnoho úspěchů v tom co děláte a děkuji za inspiraci.
Hezký den, moc vám děkuji. Těší mě, že se vám recepty líbí! :))