Lemon poppy seed bundt cake

I bought a bag of poppy seeds. That's it. Then I had to bake something, right? Luckily, I also had two lemons on the kitchen counter so there weren't so many options without going to the grocery store. Again. On foot. Because it's ridiculously close to use the car but still far enough to be annoyed by the mere thought of walking all the way there. It's a five minute walk, darn it!

So, if you have a bag of poppy seeds and one or two lemons, you're all set. I'm sure it works just fine with oranges, too.

Ingredients:

110 grams butter (1/2 cup), room temperature

300 grams (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar

4 eggs

260 grams (2 cups) flour

5 grams (1 teaspoon) baking powder

80 ml (1/3 cup) sour cream

50 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

20 grams (approx. 3 tablespoons) poppy seeds

zest from 2 lemons

(optional) 1/2 teaspoon aniseed (not star anise, the other one) and the seeds from two cardamom pods, crushed together in a mortar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and grease well a 25 cm (10 inch) bunt pan. Take my advice and grease it well, you'll thank me later, when it's time to invert the cake on a plate.

Using your mixer, cream the butter, add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy, two minutes or so. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, poppy seed, aniseed, cardamom (if using) and beat until incorporated. I hope you have already sifted together the flour and baking powder, have you now? Fold the flour mixture into the batter using a rubber spatula.

Spoon the batter into the pan and bake it for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

I always let the cake cool completely before inverting it on a plate, if you try inverting it while it's still hot, well, you may regret it. I have. Many times. So do as I say.

Notes:
This recipe works just fine with oranges, too. If you find your oranges to be particularly sweet, reduce the amount of sugar to 270 grams or less. Remember to replace the lemon juice with freshly squeezed orange juice .

Quince upside down cake

Since it's quince season I'm thinking quince cake. Upside down cake. Quince is too sour to eat raw, but you will be amazed what this fruit can do with a cake.

Ingredients:

400 grams (2 cups) sugar

3 cloves (whole)

zest from an average size lemon (1 tablespoon)

3 large quince

200 g (1 cup) sugar

150 grams (2/3 cup) butter

190 grams flour (1 1/2 cups)

2 large eggs

60 grams (1/4 cup) sour cream

5 ml vanilla extract (1 teaspoon)

50 grams (1/2 cup) almond meal

5 grams (1 teaspoon) baking powder

1 gram (1/4 teaspoon) ground nutmeg

3 grams (1/2 teaspoon) ground cardamom

pinch of salt

Directions:
Peel the quinces, trim the ends, and cut them in quarters from stem to base, leaving the cores intact. In a saucepan, add 400 g sugar, 1 l (4 cups) water, lemon zest, cloves and quince quarters. Bring to a boil over medium heat and then simmer for about 20 minutes, until tender and pink. Transfer the quince to a plate, allow to cool. Continue simmering the syrup for another 30 minutes, until it thickens. Set aside.

Now it's time to preheat your oven to 180 ºC (350 ºF).

Remove cores from quince and slice each quarter into wedges. Line the bottom of a 23 cm (9 inch) round cake pan with parchment paper. Arrange quince slices on the bottom of the cake pan, or not, as shown in the picture. Pour over 1 cup of syrup.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and cardamom into medium bowl. Whisk in the almond meal and set aside.

Beat together the butter, remaining sugar (200 g = 1 cup), and vanilla for about 3 minutes or until light and creamy. Add the sour cream and then the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Don't forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Spoon the batter over quince, spreading it evenly to the sides of the pan and smooth with spatula.

Bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes. While the cake is still warm, run a knife around its sides and invert it onto the rack to cool completely.

Pear delight

Well, it seems autumn is already here and I'm not sure if I'm sad because summer's over or happy for all the baking days ahead. Either way, I have decided to bake this pear delight and celebrate.

Start by preparing the pears:

6 pears

750 ml water

300 g sugar. If you have tasted the pears and find them particularly sweet, feel free to reduce the amount of sugar to 250 or even 200 grams.

lemon zest to taste

5 g cinnamon - if you are a fan. If you aren't, well, who am I to judge?

seeds from 1 cardamom pod. Lightly crush the cardamom pod under the knife blade until the outer husk cracks. Use the mortar and pestle to crush the seeds, but don't put too much effort into it, you don't need the seeds to be perfectly grounded, just a bit crushed.

Peel the pears, but leave the stems attached. Cut off the bottoms of the pears allowing them to stand upright, core them and make sure to remove all the seeds. Combine water, sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and cardamom and bring to a boil in a sauce pan. Reduce the heat and simmer until the pears are slightly tender, for about 10 minutes or so. Remove from the pan.

Ingredients for the batter:

180 g butter, room temperature

180 g sugar

3 eggs

10 g vanilla extract

190 g flour

5 g baking powder

40 ml milk

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Butter 6 ramekins. Sift the flour and the baking powder, set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, add the vanilla extract. Reduce the speed of your mixer and add the flour mixture and the milk in three additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients (flour, milk, flour). Mix well to incorporate.

Pour the batter into the ramekins and push in the pears until they touch the bottom. Bake for about 45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Recipe adapted from Happy Meal Time.