poppy seed lemon cake

I'm not sure I really loved this cake like I loved the gingerbread apple upside-down cake. It wasn't as sweet as I think a cake should be. So, I made a lemon/powder sugar glaze to pour over each slice to sweeten things up a bit. That helped a lot! I wasn't sure if I should even post it, but I thought....just because it isn't my "cup of tea" doesn't mean it won't "tickle your fancy". So, here it goes....a recipe that I'm not in love with, but maybe you will be.

ingredients: 2/3 cup of sugar

8 large egg yolks*

1 large whole egg

1 1/2 Tbls of finely grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

pinch of salt

2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted & cooled a bit

1/2 cup poppy seeds (3 oz bottle)

Directions: preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour a bundt pan generously. This cake really wants to stick, but don't let it. Butter the dull side of a large piece of foil (you need it to cover the top of your bundt pan).

In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the sugar and the eggs (1 whole egg and 8 yolks) at medium-high speed until the mixture is a pale yellow and very fluffy, about 8 minutes. Beat in the lemon zest. Sift together the flour, cornstarch and salt in another bowl and add to the egg mixture. Then beat in the butter and poppy seeds.

Pour into prepared pan and cover tightly with the buttered foil. Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake pulls away from the side of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean. Uncover and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack and cool completely before serving, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with powder sugar and if you are needing it a little sweeter....mix some lemon juice with some powder sugar until you get a glaze and pour over each slice. I'm telling you....it really needed the glaze.

And there you have it - a cake that is good, but not "knock your socks off" kind of good.

*Don't waste the egg whites. You can freeze them to use later. Here is a website with recipes for the whites..... www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/09/recipes_to_use.html