Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Is it really June?! Time flies. It's crazy to think that I've been out of school for a little over a year and been working as a pediatric nurse for 8 months. It's amazing how much has changed. 

The brother has one year left as a teen. We had to celebrate a little early since he'll be off at camp on his real birthday. This year, he opted for a lemon poppyseed cake. I swear, the kid picks the weirdest things for me to make. Every other guy I know likes chocolate. But for the brother, I've done strawberry, white chocolate with raspberry, and now this. Gotta love him. 

The recipe is from Apple & Spice via Pinterest. I didn't change much, other than using whole eggs instead of just whites. And the brother vetoed the flaked almonds for decorating, so I used some extra lemon zest. Also, the original is all in metric units, so I'll give you the converted version. You're welcome. 

Basically, it tastes just like a lemon poppyseed muffin with frosting. It's pretty delicious if you're into that. It's moist, sweet, lemony, not too heavy. The brother was pleased with it, so I think that makes it a winner! 

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

For the cake:
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 cup sugar
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBSP poppy seeds
3/4 cup unsalted butter
zest of 1 lemon
275ml buttermilk
5 large eggs

For the sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
75ml water
juice of 1 lemon

For the frosting:
8oz cream cheese
3/4 cup butter
5-6 cups powdered sugar
1 TBSP almond extract

• Heat the oven to 350*F and prepared 3 8-9" cake pans. 
• Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Gently mix to combine.
• Add the butter, lemon zest, and 200ml of the buttermilk. Beat on low until completely mixed. Raise the speed to medium and beat for an additional 1-2 minutes.
• In another bowl, combine the remaining buttermilk with the eggs. Whisk to blend thoroughly. 
• Add the egg mixture to the batter in 2-3 additions. Beat only enough to incorporate.
• Divide the batter between the three pans (it may seem a little thick).
• Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on the size of your pans), until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. 
• Let the cakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before turning out.
• While the cakes are cooling, make the lemon sauce:
• In a small sauce pan, combine sugar, water, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
•  Generously brush the cakes with the lemon sauce while they are still warm. 
• Allow the cakes to completely cool before frosting.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter & cream cheese until light and fluffy.
• Gradually add the powdered sugar, scraping down the sides & beating well between each addition.
• Add the almond extract and continue to beat well for 3-4 minutes, until light & fluffy.
• I trust you can figure out how to assemble the cake!

Enjoy!

I seriously need to get back to cooking more. I've been eating like an unchaperoned 5-year-old at a birthday party. However, I've actually made some breakfast sandwiches and oatmeal cupcakes recently. They were pretty good... I'll TRY to get those posts up soon!

Birthday Week Adventures

It's been a great birthday week! I've had a few nights off to recover from the crazy amount of hours I put in last week. Yea for sleep! I FINALLY went to see "Frozen." It's pretty fantastic. Very musical. Good storyline. Hilarious. Literally laughing out loud, hilarious. I was like, "I'm 23, I should not be this captivated by an animated film." It's that good. If you haven't seen it, you definitely should. This will obviously be added to my movie collection.

On Monday, I ran around Mitch Park a couple times. I think that's like 5.6 miles. It was nice and sunny, and I finished up right before the wind got really bad. It was a great way to enjoy a pretty day! And because it's fun for me, I also got in some X2-Core before cleaning up & heading out to dinner. 

I polled my Facebook friends for a good place to go for birthday dinner. I always try to pick somewhere I haven't been. All the suggestions were great! In the end, I went with Inca Trail (partly because I couldn't talk the family into going downtown and partly because it was the most different...I've NEVER had Peruvian food before). It was delicious! It looks a little sketchy, and it seems like one guy does everything. But the food is good. I make it a point to get the sampler app platter (above) when I go someplace new, especially if it's a new kind of cuisine. I'm a huge fan of the calamari. I ordered the ceviche mixto (below), which was recommended to me by a work friend. Excellent. I was kind of nervous about the raw, chopped fish thing...which is weird since I like sushi...but anyways it was fantastic. Served up with yucca, corn, onions and a clam. Yum!

That was followed up with the perfect birthday cake. I went back to the basics with this one. White cake, buttercream frosting, and sprinkles. You can see my full post with links to the recipes by clicking here. This is the first time the smoke alarm has gone off when I blew out my candles...

Yesterday, I got a massage and partied at Zumba. I've also managed to catch up on all the errands I've been needing to run this month...like getting a new driver's license. And I've finally finished up the P90X-3 workouts, so at some point I will have a post up on those. I've already repeated some, but I was holding out on a couple because they're mostly chest and back, which isn't really my favorite thing. It's been a nice and relaxing time! And I'm so thankful for all the birthday wishes I've received!