Definitely make this. Perfect texture, deep, tangy lemon flavor with just the right amount of sweetness, and it’s not even bad for you? A win all around,
And I like recipes that get very specific about when to put in which ingredients, and what to do after that, and how slowly or quickly to do it. It means someone has put some thought into it, and chances are, you’ll get better results for their effort. And so we begin.
Dry ingredients first. All purpose flour, to keep things light, with some baking powder and salt. And a whisk.
Then I got the last of the Meyer lemons ready. It was a sad thing to contemplate, although of course the ever-charming Dave has offered to go get more. (It’ll have to wait until this snowstorm passes, though.) But for now, we are officially out of Meyer lemons. I zested the last three to get a tablespoon’s worth, and squeezed the juice out from two to get what I needed there.
The zest went into the stand mixer with butter and natural cane sugar.
And around and around went the beaters, until I was satisfied with the texture. I added Greek yogurt, and beat some more.
I added in the eggs, one at a time, beating after each one, and the vanilla, and I confess I got a little worried as the batter got very liquid-y. (Is liquid-y a word? Liquid-ish?)
Then I took turns adding the flour mixture and the milk, alternating between the two, but being mindful of the instruction to begin and end with flour.
Finally, I arrived at a proper texture. My worry faded. (At least my batter worry.)
The last things to go in were the lemon juice and poppy seeds, two tablespoons of each. That’s a whole lot of poppy seeds!
I actually put in a little more lemon juice than the recipe said, I couldn’t help it. Meyer lemons. Once I stirred it, things looked even better. I poured it all into a loaf pan. (The photo below is a great indication of why I’m taking a photography class soon. The lighting is atrocious.)
I tasted the batter. Divine. The recipe said to bake for 45-50 minutes. I set the timer for 40, and it was done to perfection the first time I checked.
It spent another ten minutes in the pan, then finished cooling on a wire rack. Well, it didn’t really FINISH cooling before I dove in and ate a piece. Usually I have patience for such things but this looked and smelled so good that I just gave in to my urgent need for lemon bread. It was just as blissful as I hoped. Bursting with lemon flavor, soft and fluffy, and warm. A delight, this cake.
I personally think that it would be even better with half the poppy seeds, but I’ve been told it’s perfect as is. Maybe it depends on how you feel about having poppy seeds in your teeth, maybe it’s a flavor thing. I’m not really complaining. I love this bread.
You know who else loves it? Everybody!
You know who else loves it? Juliet! Not only did she give me the thumbs up this morning when she tasted it, and not only did she bring it to school for snack, she actually ATE it for snack. I consider this a pretty major accomplishment.
The only real changes I made to the recipe were as follows:
- I used Meyer lemons.
- I used cane sugar instead of white, and put in slightly less than the 3/4 cup suggested.
- I added a little extra lemon juice.
- I only baked it for 40 minutes.
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