A lemon poppy seed pound cake, just like grandma used to make with butter, sour cream and lemon. It's a moist, dense loaf that freezes beautifully. Be sure to use room temperature eggs, butter and sour cream.
Zest the lemon and rub into sugar with fingers to get maximum flavour. Let rest while preparing everything else.
Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and line an 8x4x2 or 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with parchment paper or grease and lightly flour.
In large bowl, cream room temperature butter with mixer until soft and creamy. Gradually add sugar with zest, beating until light and fluffy. Beat really well. Add room temperature eggs, one at a time, beating one minute after each addition and scraping bowl frequently.
In smaller bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and poppy seeds.
Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients alternately with lemon juice and yogurt. Mix just until combined, don't overbeat it.
Spoon into prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a couple of crumbs is ok).
Let cool for an hour on wire rack before removing.
Glaze
To prepare glaze, whisk together icing sugar and lemon juice until smooth.
Once loaf has cooled, place on serving platter and drizzle with glaze. Garnish with extra lemon zest.
Notes
Be sure to have soft, room temperature butter and room temperature eggs and yogurt for smooth, even, cake that will rise nicely.High fat yogurt or sour cream will give you the best results.Beat really well BEFORE you add the flour. For best, non-dense results, beat the butter and sugar until super light and fluffy, beat up to 10 minutes! And do the same when adding the eggs. But once you add the flour, mix just until combined.Caution: Poppyseeds will go rancid, use only fresh poppyseeds for the best flavour.Try this recipe with oranges for something a little different, if using blood oranges, use the juice of the orange for the glaze.