Poppy Seed Cake

Preparation

1. 01

   Warm the milk and dissolve the yeast

   Gently warm the milk (approx. 37°C), dissolve the dried yeast and 1 tbsp sugar from the dough portion in it, and leave to stand for 10 minutes until the mixture froths slightly.

2. 02

   Knead the dough

   Put the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast milk, remaining sugar, soft butter, egg and salt. Knead everything with the dough hooks of an electric hand whisk until a smooth, elastic dough forms.

3. 03

   Let the dough rise

   Cover the dough with a clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 60 minutes, until it has visibly increased in size.

4. 04

   Soak the sultanas

   Soak the sultanas in rum and set aside.

5. 05

   Let the poppy seeds swell in the milk

   Bring the milk for the filling to the boil in a saucepan, remove from the heat and stir in the ground poppy seeds. Leave to swell for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. 06

   Prepare the poppy seed filling

   Melt the butter for the filling in a small saucepan. Stir the poppy seed and milk mixture together with the melted butter, caster sugar, vanilla sugar, egg yolks and ground almonds. Fold in the cooled, rum-soaked sultanas.

7. 07

   Fold in the egg whites

   Whisk the egg whites until stiff and carefully fold them into the poppy seed filling to lighten it.

8. 08

   Preheat the oven and prepare the tin

   Preheat the oven to 175°C conventional oven. Grease a loose-bottomed tin (26 cm) and dust with flour.

9. 09

   Line the tin with the dough

   Roll out the dough on a floured work surface into a round (approx. 30 cm diameter) and place it in the tin. Press up a small edge.

10. 10

    Spread the filling

    Spread the poppy seed filling evenly over the dough base and smooth the surface.

11. 11

    Bake

    Bake the cake in the preheated oven on the middle shelf for 50–55 minutes, until the surface is golden brown and the filling has just set.

12. 12

    Allow to cool

    Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes, then release from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

13. 13

    Spread the icing

    Stir the icing sugar with the lemon juice to a smooth icing and spread over the completely cooled cake.