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Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
March 14, 2022
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A light and fluffy Lemon Poppy Seed Cake paired with a classic cream cheese frosting. Lemony-sweet and perfect for spring or summer! Very similar to my lovely Lemon Poppyseed Bread recipe and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins too!
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake Basics
As you can imagine, this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake was a pretty dreamy treat. The combination of sweet lemon with the slightly crunchy, nutty poppy seeds is probably one of my favorite flavors ever. This recipe is loosely based on this really moist pound cake that I’m head over heels in love with. Even though it’s a pound cake it’s still light and fluffy (as you can see from the pictures).
You get all of the lemony flavor from both lemon juice and zest plus amazing moisture from a buttermilk substitute and a “healthy” helping of melted butter. The whole thing is topped off with a simple cream cheese frosting, so good!
Do I have to use poppy seeds?
If you don’t like poppy seeds you can simply omit them and still have a very yummy cake.
Baking Pan Options
I baked this cake in a regular round 9-inch cake pan but you could easily fit it in a loaf pan or a cupcake tin.
If you’d like to use a 9×13, a standard-sized bundt pan, or make this into a two-tiered cake simply double the recipe! You may have to bake it a little longer so be sure to watch it and test with a toothpick for doneness.
Be sure to grease your pans well, especially if you’re using a detailed bunt pan.
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake Troubleshooting
Cakes like this one are known for issues like being too dense or too dry. Well, friends, I’m here to help you before that happens!
- Measure Your Flour Correctly: The first culprit is too much flour in the batter. To fix this, you’re goint to fluff your flour. As flour sits in the bag, or whatver container it’s in, it settles. Fluffing reintroduces air into the mix. Next take a spoon and spoon the flour into your measuring cup then level. Voila, properly measured flour!
- Oven Temperature: The second issue could be your oven! Every oven is different, but one way to absolutely make sure it’s preheated to the correct temperature is to use an interal oven thermometer like this one.
- Baking Pan: I always always recommend using lighter baking pans versus darker colored ones. This is simply because darker pans create a crunchy dark crust on the outside of the cake.
How To Make Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
For full details on how to make Lemon Poppy Seed Cake, see the recipe card down below 🙂
Preheat and Prep
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Make Lemon Poppy Seed Cake Batter
- In a large bowl, stir sugar and lemon zest together to create a damp mixture that resembles damp sand. Stir in the eggs and vanilla until smooth.
- In a liquid measuring cup, stir milk, vinegar, and lemon juice together. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together to combine.
- Alternate stirring in wet and dry ingredients until everything is added into the cake batter. Gently stir in the poppy seeds and melted butter.
Bake and Cool
Pour into prepared pan and bake 45-55 minutes or until baked thoroughly and a toothpick comes out clean after being inserted. While the cake is baking, make the cream cheese frosting.
Cool 15 minutes in the cake pan before removing to a rack to cool completely.
Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting
For the frosting, whip all ingredients together until light and fluffy. Spread over cooled cake and serve.
Storing Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Wrap cake (without frosting) in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to three days. If the cake is frosted with cream cheese frosting you’ll have to store it in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Freezing Instructions
If you wish to freeze the cake (without frosting), it will store well for up to 3 months. I would wrap it in plastic freezer wrap or in a heavy-duty ziplock bag. Let it thaw overnight before frosting and serving.
More Lemon Cakes to Try!
- Classic Lemon Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake
- Lemon Raspberry Cake
- Lemon Pound Cake
- Lemon Crumb Cake
- Lemon Icebox Cake
- Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Mousse Frosting
I hope you love this cake as much as I do! The printable recipe card is below. Have a great day, friends! 🙂
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
A light and fluffy Lemon Poppy Seed Cake paired with a classic cream cheese frosting. Lemony-sweet and perfect for spring or summer!
Ingredients
for the lemon poppy seed cake-
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest about two whole lemons zested
- 3 whole eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar* or lemon juice
- 1/2 cup milk*
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1/2 cup salted butter melted
for the cream cheese frosting-
- 3 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup salted butter softened
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir sugar and lemon zest together to create a damp mixture that resembles damp sand. Stir in the eggs and vanilla until smooth.
- In a liquid measuring cup, stir milk, vinegar, and lemon juice together. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together to combine.
- Alternate stirring in wet and dry ingredients until everything is added into the cake batter. Gently stir in the poppy seeds and melted butter.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake 45-55 minutes or until baked thoroughly and a toothpick comes out clean after being inserted. Cool 15 minutes in the cake pan before removing to a rack to cool completely.
- For the frosting, whip all ingredients together until light and fluffy. Spread over cooled cake and serve.
Notes
*or use 1/2 cup buttermilk instead of milk and white vinegar mixture
Nutrition
Calories: 347kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 300mg | Potassium: 131mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 562IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 1mg
[…] 7) Lemon poppyseed cake with cream cheese frosting (by Laurenslatest.com) […]
I just finished baking this cake. It was an easy recipe to follow and I really liked how there aren’t a lot of ingredients involved. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Thank you for your wonderful recipe. Sorry to hear about your trouble.
It’s divine even without frosting. I didn’t have any lemon zest either and it’s still divine. Thank you for sharing!
Hi
I made this cake for my bro in law birthday. …. It turned out nice.
I was told the cake was awesome n it’s the best cake eaten by his cousin. I was all happy happy
Thank you ???? for sharing
LoVed this. Tried it out yesterday and it came out perfect. I would adjust the baking time to 35mins but maybe that was just my oven/altitude. As for the recipe stealers…well you have set a high standard and they cant be original enough so they have to take from the best 😉 if you could be a fruit, be a pineapple and wear a crown :))
Hi Lauren,
I love everything you make. I follow your recipes all the time. And you know what, whatever they do, I am one of the people that I use your page as a reference. So if I need anything my family ask me to make I always check your page first.
Well done.
Thank you so much for your comment.
I think you are amazing for using what I would call total class and tact for getting you’re message across. When a person makes such an amazing recipe and shares it like you did No one had any right trying to take credit for any of it .Who ever stepped over the line……….You know who you are Not cool
I made this cake yesterday and at 28 minutes it was completely over baked. The flavor was great but very dry. I even had my oven a bit under 350. I’m not sure what happened. I want to try it again and bake it way less. Yours really stays in that long?
Did you use a glass baking dish or a darker pan?
can i swap white sugar with an alternative? (brown, muscavado, etc.)
I’ve never tried switching the sugars before, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Sugars generally give the same structure to baked goods no matter what the kind.
Can I make Vegan by using Almond milk & vegan butter instead? My family is vegan.
You can totally try it, but beware–>I am not vegan so have not tested this recipe any other way.
Gah! People do that?? I’m not terribly blog savvy, but the gall! Can’t wait to try this recipe ????
Just delcious. Amything lemon, one of my faves this. Thanks .
Simon
I have made this cake twice now and it’s so good! Zesting was the hardest part. 2nd time I used a potato peeler and peeled the yellow part (skin) of the lemon, then used a electric mini food processer to zest into even smaller bits. So much faster then hand grating! Sorry, I’m new to using zest, maybe everyone knows that trick. I didn’t realize how nutritious lemon zest was also. Wow! The fresh favor is great! Anyway, I recommend doubling the recipe, it’s that yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipe – your a honey!
I added lemon juice to the cream cheese icing. Oh my, that just added to the awesomeness of your recipe. Love the cake!
Hi! I really enjoyed this recipe but then searched for lemon poppy seed loaf and found this very similar recipe on NY Times!
She even describes the zest and sugar mixture as sand. What do you think this is about??
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014800-lemon-poppy-seed-pound-cake
I was wondering when to add the melted butter to the recipe? Do I do it with the liquid ingredients?
I was planning to use vanilla extract. Did you use vanilla bean?
No, I used extract 🙂
I hear your frustrations, but I hope you know how much we all appreciate you!! You have made student living that much yummier for me! 🙂 Thank you for all you do!
P.s – can I use gluten free flour with this recipe?
Thank you for the work you put into your blog and recipes. They’re concise and logical and are excellent for teaching my tween age grand son and daughter.
I’m sure to have volunteers to help with this one but given the appetites I’m going to double it and rather than double the icing I’m going to use raspberry preserves in between. Maybe lemon curd with whipped cream (like a mousse?) if that doesn’t work.
Thoughts?
[…] to say I learnt alot! Ingredients/Components The upper tier was lemon poppy seed cake from this recipe from Lauren’s Latest, split between two 6 inch tins. Separating the cake layers was a layer […]
[…] I used Annabel Langbein’s recipe) won out for the middle tier, and some lovely and light lemon poppyseed for the top tier. Given that I had only ever seen naked cakes made with the same flavour (or at […]
I love this cake!! I am making the second batch in mini loaves and mini bunt pans. It is amazing, keep the great recipes coming.
A one layer round cake looks odd to me. Would a 7 x 9 rectangular pan work?
I’m looking for a good lemon poppyseed recipe to use for the bottom portion of my wedding cake. Being based on a pound cake recipe this sounds perfect, however I’m wondering how does this recipe double?
I am excited to make this cake for my daughter’s birthday this week. I have 10 x 2 ” pans…should I adjust the recipe? Thanks for your thoughts:-)
The only thing you’d adjust is the cooking time. Start checking it 5 minutes before the recommended time just to ensure it doesn’t over bake!
Sounds wonderful. Do you think it can be done in two layers for a birthday cake?
So, I made this and it was delicious, but if you’re going to make it for more than 2 people you should double the recipe and but it in a bundt pan.
Hello Lauren! I just stumbled across your blog and I am loving it! I was planning to use a variation of your recipe to make cupcakes and post on my blog but OBVIOUSLY crediting you for the recipe! I just wanted to be sure that is OK granted the nature of your rant! Hahaha
XOXO Annie Abbey // http://www.somethingswellblog.com/
I chose this for my husband to make for my birthday cake! I cannot wait to eat it!!
I made this last night for a PTO get together at my house. They were yummy…I live in a high altitude, thinking I might need to adjust a little as the cake was more dense then fluffy. I sifted the flour, but didn’t “fluff” it as you said to someone on another post, i’m not sure what that means? Either way, my 8 year old son and I are eating up all the leftovers! Yum!
I only have 8 inch cake pans. How would you adjust the cooking time? Thanks!
My mom had a friend that made an out-of-this-world Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake with a glaze that was to die for, but was a very dense cake. This looks so much lighter! Cannot wait to make this – especially with a cream cheese frosting (my favorite kind!)!
It’s almost midnight – guess I’ll have to just dream about it until tomorrow! 😉
So sorry that others are stealing from you – wish you could tell us so we could avoid her blog, but I agree with your reasons. Hope you get justice. Just found your blog and really enjoy it! 🙂
Thus looks so yummy….can’t wait to try it. I’m sorry that people are doing this to you, it’s obvious they have no life and therefore have to post fake ones so others will believe they have a lot going on. Chalk it up to ignorance and just jeep posting these yummy deserts…..☺
I can’t wait to try this cake. Does it do well to double the recipe to make a 9×13 size came? Thanks. Luann Myers
HI Lauren,
I first saw your amazing stuff on We all loved it! One of my friends is not a fan of lemon and she even liked it a lot.
Do you recommend salted or unsalted butter for the cake and the frosting. Ie there’s no salt in the recipe. Thank you!
I made this delicious looking cake tonight but it didn’t rise at all. I did use a square pan instead of a round one but didn’t think it would make that much of a difference. The batter looked great except I felt like the butter was too much. Any advice? Please help. Thank you!
[…] all give a big round of applause to Lauren’s Latest for her super moist, super simple lemon poppyseed cake with cream cheese frosting. I made this sweet lemony goodness today for the first time and I am never looking back. No, siree. […]
So sorry about the thieves. I love your recipes. Thx so much for sharing!
Hi Lauren! First let me congratulate you for your work and say a huge THANK YOU, as you are such an inspiration to me!
I don’t have the habit of commenting on blogs, but as I was reading your post I was thinking “Will that person have the courage to integrally copy this post now?”
Please keep enriching our days with your marvellous stories and stunning cakes!
We dont have poppy seeds in our country.. what is the substitute for it?
How many cupcakes would this make and would a lemon cream cheese buttercream with it be to strong of a lemon taste?
Lauren!
I admit I haven’t heard of you before today but I wanted to say I’m sorry “people” are doing you wrong!! Based on your rant and you’re similarity to my own quirky personality 😉 I’ll be following your recipes exclusively!
I was on the hunt today for a Lemon Poppy Seed Cake to make for my darling’s birthday on Sunday. I LOVE lemon anything and he always enjoys lemony things so I figured it was a win-win idea. As luck would have it, your recipe came up first and when you mentioned how it’s dense, well that was the hook that got me. So, all joking aside, I hope others will be more respectful of all the hard work you do and not be crooks … that sh*t is against the law anyway … ahem … plagiarism!! Not that you’ll pursue and prosecute, but I’m glad you let them know it’s not a nice thing to do!! You have gained my loyalty and now you’re my “go-to” girl when I need to whip up something wonderful!! Have a great day!!
~ Kathy
I made this cake today. It was fantastic – very easy recipe with “normal” ingredients and it turned out perfect.
“Lauren’s Latest” are the most consistently reliable recipes.
Thanks…. off to have another “sliver” of cake
I am looking for a good recipe for a wedding cake. My biggest challenge is finding a cake that will not fall apart when handled/stacked. How would this one stand up? Does it balloon up in the middle when baked?
This one is a bit of a heavier cake, so it might stand up well. It does bulge slightly in the middle after being baked.
Hi! Thanks for the lovely recipe, i just made it! The only thing that confuses me is that you state that the prep time is 2 hours-and i did it in less than 10 minutes.
This includes cooling the cake completely before frosting.
Hi! Thanks for the recipe.
I tried it out but mine came out dry and dense and didn’t grow much.
Not sure what i did wrong but i’d like to try it out again. Do you have any tips that might come in handy? Thanks.
How did you measure your flour? I fluff mine first! That usually comes in handy to make sure you get the right amount. That’s the only thing that I can think of that could of made it dry and dense.
Didn’t know about fluffing the flour. Thanks for the tip.
Definitely trying it out again.
Wow, I had no idea that people would do that, sorry to hear! However, it doesn’t surprise me, you r talented and hard working, they are lazy and jealous. Please keep doing what you’re doing, us wanna-be bakers and cooks LOVE your recipes
I am curious why you use milk+vinegar, why wouldn’t you just use buttermilk?
I didn’t have any buttermilk on hand. Feel free to swap it out.