Day 101: Leftovers, and Lemon Poppyseed Whipped Cream Pound Cake
Today was a Snow Day of the best kind; we woke up to huge clumps of snow accumulating as a record-breaking snowfall that slowed everyone down almost to a halt. My morning meeting was cancelled. I took it as a sign (or really, more of an excuse) to lounge around all day, something I haven’t even been doing on the weekends for a very long time. I suppose it wasn’t so much lounging as puttering, doing laundry, cleaning up my blog and photo files, answering emails and playing and reading books with W. All the stars fell into alignment: there were two full Tim Horton’s coffees in the fridge, some leftover shortcakes for breakfast with the last of the vanilla-cherry jam my friend S brought back from New Zealand, and the latest issue of Cooking Light arrived in the mail. The cherry on top: the first new episode (in ages) of The Office is on tonight!
And because there are so many leftovers from last night, I didn’t even need to cook.
I said I didn’t need to. I am hard wired to want to bake on days when it feels like Sunday and the snow is a foot deep. Besides, the leftovers included a bowl of whipped cream, a dangerous thing to have snowed in with me. I remembered a recipe for whipped cream pound cake in Richard Sax’s Classic Home Desserts, and looked it up, wondering if it would make a suitable poppyseed cake. (My friend A mentioned how much she loves poppyseed cake a few weeks ago after seeing it on the dessert menu at the Highwood, and when I stumbled upon a bag of poppyseeds in the depths of my cupboard last week I pulled it out thinking I’d make one for her.) It seemed strange to me that a cake made with only 2 cups of flour would call for two loaf pans or a 10″ tube pan, so I did my own thing with it, cutting out a third of the sugar while I was at it, and it worked out beautifully.
Whipped cream cake sounds outrageously rich, but this pound cake contains no butter. (Or shortening, or oil.) Because cream is 35% butterfat, in this case it’s a lower fat option, providing this cake with half the fat of other pound cakes.
Lemon Poppyseed Whipped Cream Pound Cake
AuthorJulie
Preheat the oven to 350F.
With an electric mixer, whip the cream until stiff; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs for a minute, then slowly add the sugar, beating until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.
In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Sprinkle half over the beaten eggs and fold it in with a spatula; then fold in the whipped cream and then the remaining flour, along with the poppyseeds.
Spread into an 8"x4" loaf pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, and bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden and the top is springy to the touch.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F.
With an electric mixer, whip the cream until stiff; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs for a minute, then slowly add the sugar, beating until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.
In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Sprinkle half over the beaten eggs and fold it in with a spatula; then fold in the whipped cream and then the remaining flour, along with the poppyseeds.
Spread into an 8"x4" loaf pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, and bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden and the top is springy to the touch.
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Heavens to Betsy!! I would love this cake! I’m going to have to try it at some point if I can find a few spare minutes….
I am definitely going to try this one! And look at all those poppyseeds! A big pet peeve of mine are those so-called poppyseed cakes that have a smattering of seeds.
This will be a good change from the chiffon cake our family is used to. Thanks!
Hi Julie,
The cake looks divine, when you say you cut the sugar by 1/3….did you use 1/3 of cup vs the 1 cup in the posted recipe? Can’t wait to try it. Regards,
When I say I cut out a third of the sugar I mean the original called for 1 1/2 cups, and I only used 1 cup.
Hi Julie! I’ve been following your blog on my google reader. It was sent to me by a friend in Edmonton. I was born in Alberta, then grew up in Manitoba, and am now living in upstate New York for graduate school. I made this cake the other day and the flavour is delicious. (Definitely will use the zest of 2 lemons next time, rather than 1 though!) My cake turned out a little dry (remedied by slathering butter on a warm slice!) and was wondering what you’d recommend to give it a bit more moistness. A 1/4 c of oil maybe? I know that would defeat the low-fat purpose, but I wouldn’t mind the sacrifice for a slightly more moist loaf. Keep up the awesome posts!
Yes that’s what I would do – add 1/4 cup of canola oil. Which will make it a little less low-fat, but it is the healthiest kind of fat – the kind we want in our diets! So really it’s just the calorie boost some people may not like as much. Good question though! I pondered adding that as an optional ingredient…
Greetings, cakemakers, from a snowy English day! I have made this this afternoon and it’s wonderful! No problem with dryness – well, not if you top it with a mixture of cream cheese [Philadelphia] icing sugar, lemon juice and a little zest. Complete heaven and to h*** with the calories!
Great recipe in terms of taste but I found it too dry and crumbly. Next time I think I would put oil in to make it more moist. What have others done to make it less dry?
Hi Julie,
I found your recipe as I’m looking for a way to use up leftover whipped cream. I’m thinking of making it into cupcakes tomorrow and might double the amount of whipped cream. Do you think this will work and how long would cupcakes take to bake? My guess would be 25-30 minutes.
Thx!