Sorry for the sudden absence. I didn’t mean for it to happen and I missed you all. I kept trying to get a post up early in the week, but I couldn’t seem to write it. Then I realized I really needed a job and went from jobless to employed in 2 days. Trying to find a black long sleeve button up shirt in April has been taking up a good amount of time too. But I’m back! And you have this cake to thank. Or complain to.
My family has desserts that are made every year only on Christmas Eve. Yule log cake, walnut roll bread, and poppy seed bread. Unfortunately, I don’t particularly care for any of them. I eat a tiny piece of each, and wistfully think of all the changes I would make to the recipes. Its not that I dislike any of the ingredients (ok, I did spend a few years not liking walnuts, but that’s changed), but I feel like everything could just be so much better than it actually is.
I’m going to assume that makes sense.
The dessert I want to like the most is the poppy seed bread. But its dry, and worse yet bland. I know the recipe uses tons of poppy seeds so there should be lots of poppy seed flavor but there isn’t. And I think its because for poppy seeds to really shine, they need back up players.
Lemon is the player we’re probably the most familiar with, and for good reason. Something about the tang of lemon lets the nuttiness of the poppy seeds come through. But I think an even better pairing is almond and poppy seed.
I went for broke and did lemon almond poppy seed. Oh em gee ya’ll. This cake did a vanishing act. One second it was there, the next poof! Gone. The poppy seeds give the tiniest amount of crunch to the cake, and the edges. I don’t think I can do the edges of the cake justice.
Recent Comments