Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Lemon Poppyseed Torte

I have been thinking about lemon poppyseed cake for days, it's so refreshing and summery. I whipped this one up in no time, and it did not disappoint. I split it in half and gave one piece to my sister and kept the other for myself. Needless to say, my half is almost gone. If you have some limoncello laying around, you could soak the cake just in that, and it would be marvelous!

2 sticks butter
5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbl. lemon juice
3 Tbl. poppyseeds

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 cake pan. (You can also use two 9x5 loaf pans) Melt the butter. In an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs. Slowly streeam in the sugar. Beat until thick and pale, about 5 minutes.

Sift together four and salt. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold one third of the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Fold the remainder of the flour into the mix in two parts, very gently. In a separate bowl, whisk 1 cup of the batter into the melted butter, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Gently fold 1 additional cup of the batter into this mix. Then gently fold this mix back into the batter with the poppyseeds.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan(s). Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. After 5 minutes of cooling, turn cake out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water


Combine ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a boil and cool.

2 half-pints raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries
2 Tbl. water
2 Tbl. sugar (more or less, depending on the sweetness of your berries)

whipped cream
extra berries for garnish

Combine 1 container of berries with water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and allow to cook until the berries have broken down and you have a sauce-like consistency, about 5 minutes. (If you use blackberries, you may want to strain this because the seeds are a little bit more troublesome than those in raspberries.) While the sauce is still warm, add the remaining berries. Toss the berries to coat and cool.

When your cake is cool, use a serrated knife to trim the sides and top of the cake. Split the cake horizontally into two pieces. Using a pastry brush, generously soak the top of both pieces with the lemon syrup. Top the bottom layer with the berry mixture. Set the other cake layer on top. Finish with whipped cream and some extra berries. Enjoy!!

Tip: If you used the two loaf pans, you're going to end up with two tortes (one to keep and one to give away). Trim the top, then flip it over and follow the assembly directions from there. You'll have a tapered look because of the angled sides, but I think that this looks kinda cool.

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