Description
A moist, tender, citrus‑bright cake studded with poppy seeds and topped with luscious cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) all‑purpose flour
- ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup (60 g) vegetable oil
- 1½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 3 Tbsp lemon zest
- 4 large eggs
- ⅓ cup (90 g) milk
- ½ cup (115 g) yogurt
- ¼ cup (58 g) fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp poppy seeds
- —Cream Cheese Frosting—
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter
- 3 cups (375 g) powdered sugar
- 1½ cups (335 g) cream cheese, cold
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350 °F). Grease & line two 8″ pans.
- Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt; set aside.
- Cream butter, oil, sugar, zest until light/smooth (~2 min).
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing well; scrape bowl.
- Mix in milk, yogurt, lemon juice; batter may curdle.
- Fold in dry ingredients gently, then poppy seeds; don’t overmix.
- Divide batter into pans; bake ~33 min or until toothpick is clean.
- Cool in pans 15–20 min, then on rack completely.
- Frosting: beat butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar in batches.
- Mix in cold cream cheese, vanilla, lemon juice until smooth.
- Assemble cake: frost between layers, sides, top. Decorate and serve.
Notes
- Use gram amounts for accuracy.
- Cake is fine at room temp up to 12 hours; refrigerate overnight due to cream cheese.
- Bring all ingredients to room temperature before baking.
- Scrape bowl between additions to ensure even mixing.