Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf

Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf

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My girlfriend asked me to make this recipe healthier because she is absolutely addicted to Starbuck’s Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf; according to their website it has 470 calories per serving!  That’s a lot!  Also, their portion is huge!  When I tasted it all I could think of was how incredible the lemon flavour was.  This is my rendition of it and in case you’re wondering, you can have two and 7/8’s of the Starbuck’s loaf or you can eat my entire loaf!  Now, I have said it before and I’ll say it again; I bake with whole wheat flour only, my cakes do not turn out light and fluffy.  I can get away with it here because it is a loaf and the lemony flavour is insane and also the whole wheat adds a nutty flavour to the loaf.  I say this fully acknowledging that most of the world is not a whole wheat freak like me!  So with that said, feel free to combine some white all purpose flour in place of some of the whole wheat, the rest of the ingredients remain the same.

Makes 1 loaf

1 ½ Cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp Poppy seeds

Juice of one lemon

Zest of one lemon

1 Cup buttermilk

1 Egg (large)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 Cup sugar

–  Preheat your oven to 350 and lightly grease (if yours isn’t nonstick) a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

–  In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and poppy seeds; mix well.

–  In another large bowl, squeeze the lemon juice directly into this bowl; remove any seeds that may fall in.

–  Over this same bowl, add the lemon zest, buttermilk, egg, vanilla extract and sugar; mix well using an electric mixer (a stand mixer if you have one).

–  Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the liquid mixture.

–  When the batter has just come together, stop mixing it.   You don’t want to see any dry flour but you also want to stop mixing as soon as you see there isn’t anymore raw flour, this will keep your loaf from becoming tough.

–  Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake it on the centre rack for 50 – 60 minutes, until the cake tester (toothpick) is inserted and comes out clean.

Notes:

1. Poppy seeds are found in the spice aisle of your grocery store,
2. The Starbucks’ lemon loaf is light and crumbly, mine is more on the spongy side.