The cake is essentially a lemon pound cake with poppy-seeds. I adapted it from a recipe found on The Perfect Pantry and converted it to gluten and dairy free. I substituted the sour cream with applesauce and earth balance for the butter. Baking with fresh lemon can be tricky since it is difficult to get that bright and tangy lemon taste with real lemon juice and zest; which is probably why the original recipe calls for lemonade mix. I opted out of adding the lemonade mix in my version so the actual cake is not as “lemony” as I would have liked. I used the zest and juice of a total of 4 fresh lemons between the cake and glaze to make up for the lemonade mix.

This cake is very moist and has nice crumb and texture. This was my first time baking with poppy-seeds. I bought them months ago on Vitacost with the intention to make lemon poppy-seed muffins but this cake caught my eye and I just had to try it. The poppy-seeds give it a mildly earthy like taste (the best way I can think to describe it) which I am not sure how I feel about just yet. Don’t get me wrong the cake is very good. It would go especially well with a cup of tea or coffee in the morning or a mid-afternoon snack. For me, it is more like a brunch or breakfast as opposed to a  rich decadent/go all out and splurge kinda cake. Well, off to bed for me. This chef is tired.

Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake  adapted from The Perfect Pantry
2 cups all purpose gluten free flour blend
1 teaspoon baking powder (aluminum free)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/2 lb (1.5 sticks) earth balance
1 cup organic un-refined sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon zest (the zest of 2 lemons)
1 cup apple sauce
Glaze
2 and 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Juice of a  2 whole lemons and zest of lemons (grate the zest before juicing the lemons)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a cast iron loaf pan with canola or olive oil spray. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy-seeds.
2. In a food processor or stand mixer cream together earth balance, organic sugar, and eggs. Then add in vanilla extract and lemon zest. Slowly add in dry mixture alternating between dry mixture and applesauce. Slowly pour the cake batter into the loaf pan.
3. Bake for 55 minutes to an hour or more inserting a knife in the center until it comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 20 minutes.
4. Once cake is cool enough to handle invert cake and allow to cool completely on the wire rack. Once the cake has cooled; in a small saucepan heat lemon juice, confectioners sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla over low heat until combined. Drizzle the warm glaze over cooled cake.