Italian Poppy Seed Cake

Poppy seed cake with a chocolate glaze.

Ingredients.

4 large eggs, my eggs were medium so I used 5

2 tbsp /30                       unbleached all purpose flour 

2 tbsp / 30 ml                  heavy cream

1.5 teaspoon / 8 g          grated lemon zest   {grate it with the fine one}

1/2 teaspoon / 2.5 g         cinnamon ground

1/2 teaspoon /2 g             cloves ground

pinch fine sea salt

1/2 cup sugar  / 75 g 

1 cup /225 g                     poppy seeds, ground or pounded

Chocolate Glaze {optional}

I have a Vitamix with a dry attachment so I used that to grind the poppy seeds.

I also can't find them at supermarkets, so I ordered them from mountainherbs.com in bulk

Don't grind them and store them as when they are ground they tend to develop a yeast

that will create a bad tasting flavor in them.

So grind them and use them fresh.

Preheat oven to 300F /150C

Butter 7 inch bread baking tray.  {tube pan}

Separate the eggs.

Beat the yolks till they are the same color

add the flour beat more.

Add the cream

Add the lemon zest

add the cinnamon and cloves.

They say not to beat it too much so just till it is mixed.

We will be getting the fluff and the air from the whites.

Using an egg beater, beat the whites with the salt until frothy.

So basically if you have a Kitchen Aid like I do.

Beat the egg whites on 1 for 30 sec.

then 2 for 30 .

Then add the salt

Then 3 for 1 minute.

By now you should start getting some froth.

So you can add the sugar.

Make sure to sift the sugar.

Add it little by little and increase the speed.

You can stop when they are stiff.