Lime and Poppy Seed Cake

On Friday,the last dry day we had, I spent a bit of time in the yard. Our driveway area is a mish-mash of plants, with the orchard on one side and native shrubs and the odd agapanthus on the other. Individually the plants look good but the bigger picture is not as pretty. I would really like to make this area more attractive not just to people but to our bees and the local (welcome)wildlife too. The cooler weather makes for more planning and structural work rather than the busyness of the warmer months. So now is a great time to be thinking about what to do and how to do it which thankfully can mostly be done in the warmth inside.

While I was in the orchard, I noticed that I failed to notice some limes when I picked them a while ago. They are now limes trying to look like lemons. They still taste like limes and gave me some inspiration to bake a Lime and Poppy Seed Cake. My version is an easy to bake cake which is just as nice as a cafe offering but without the cafe price tag. It can also be a lemon or orange poppy seed cake depending on what is on hand.


Lime and Poppy Seed Cake

Ingredients

1.5 cups self-raising flour

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs plus an extra yolk

185 grams softened butter

1/2 cup milk

finely grated zest of 1 lime

40 grams poppy seeds

Method

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the mixture is well combined and thick.

Pour mixture into baking tin and smooth the top.

Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave in the tin for a few minutes and then cool on a wire cake rack.

I usually ice the top of the cake but have served it with a citrusy syrup before too. To make the icing. Combine 1 cup of icing sugar, a teaspoon of butter and enough juice form the fruit used for the cake to make a spreadable icing. The cake keeps for a few days but doesn't last too long here.

Tracy