Two days ago my sister was out in Seattle having dinner with a friend. Simple enough, right?
She was approached my a friendly faced woman and asked “Are you Joy the Baker’s sister?” My sister burst into confused laughter. They carried on a short, smile filled conversation and went on with their meals… my sister still slightly confounded.
Lauren is Joy the Baker’s sister… that’s not the confusing part. The confusing part is that you all might recognize my sister in the world. Awesome. Odd. Strange. And awesome again.
Have I told you how awesome you are? How glad I am that you’re here? How glad I am that you would say hi to my sister if you saw her in Seattle? Well…. you are awesome. I’m so stoked that you’re here and thanks for being nice to my sister. For. Reals. Cause if you weren’t nice to her… we’d have to fight. That would be weird.
In other news… I can’t find my tweezers and I made you a cake. Let’s discuss.
I’m a sucker for an easy bundt cake… especially when it happens to be covered in blue glaze. This cake is all sorts of straight forward. It comes together in two bowls and bakes up in 45 minutes. I love the teeny tiny crunch of poppy seeds. To make this more of a breakfast cake, you might add fresh blueberries into the poppy seed batter. To make this more of a simple and fancy cake, leave the blueberries only for the glaze. It’s pretty and tasty either way.
Poppy Seed Cake with Blueberry Glaze
inspired by Jun and Arlene
makes one 10-inch bundt cake
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 large egg
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
Blueberry Glaze
1/4 cup frozen blueberries, thawed but not drained
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons buttermilk (or regular milk is fine too)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together canola oil, buttermilk, egg, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once. Whisk together until just combined and no lumps remain. Stir in the poppy seeds. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cook in the pan for 20 minutes. Carefully run a butter knife along the edges of the cake to assure that it is well loosed before inverting the cake onto a wire rack to cool.
To make the blueberry glaze:
Mash the thawed blueberries in a medium sized bowl releasing lots of dark blue juice. Remove most of the blueberry skins from the juice and discard. Add the vanilla extract, buttermilk and lemon. Add the powdered sugar and whisk to combine. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk to reach the desired consistency. If the mixture is too thin, add just a bit more powdered sugar.
Drizzle the glaze over the completely cooled bundt cake and allow to set for 20 minutes before serving.
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This is beautiful and I’m so excited to try it. I love lemon poppyseed and the thought of a blueberry glaze all over it….yuuummmmm….
however, I cannot figure out how this relates to your loss of tweezers?
That glaze looks great! And so does the cake :) !
You could pour blueberries on top of a rock and I’d try to eat it, but this looks extra tasty. I’d have to do some substitutions for my lactose-intolerant belly, but I’m adding it to the list!
P.S. Tweezers always seem to be the last thing I find after moving. I think, as a people, they don’t like to be uprooted.
You girls are famous! Funny story! Love this cake. Perfect for spring!
I love poppy seeds and as far as I’m concerned there aren’t enough recipes with them. That purple blueberry glaze looks amazing!
That must have been really strange for your sister (in a nice way).
The cake looks fantastic, think I’ll have to have a go at that blueberry glaze, the photo of it dripping onto the countertop just makes me want to taste it!!
Yum! I am going to make this for Easter…It looks amazing!
I lost my tweezers too…although they aren’t necessarily lost, just unaccessible as they’ve fallen behind my huge bed and I can’t get at them, but this cake makes the perfect excuse for having unruly eyebrows and a particular irritating chin hair. *sigh, I wish it weren’t so*
inaccessible..*smacks forehead*
Congrats on your family fame. Kinda makes it seem like you’re a movie star. Do you have the appropriate, “I’m absolutely cool, down to earth, and love to wear fabulous dresses” sunglasses? I’m sure you do. You love to wear fabulous dresses (I’ve seen them, you’re stylin’)and you’re super cool and down to earth. If you don’t have the proper shades, shopping trip!
The cake reminds me of spring. I just imagine eating it on my back deck, barefoot in the sunshine. Maybe I will! After I eat the Irish Soda Bread I just pulled out of the oven. Happy St. Patrick’s Day Joy!
mmm :)
I love the color! My husband is a blueberry fanatic…I’m going to have to make this one for him! Thanks!
Love it! I hope I’ll get to try it soon!
Say, I’m having a St. Patricks day party this Saturday. Planning on making a bunch of yummo “green” food. Any good ideas Joy? The Menu looks like this at the moment: ‘Green’ Ceasar Salad, Pasta baked in a Cheesy, Pesto sauce, Lime punch, and Cream Puffs with a slightly pistachio (green) cream-filling. I am excited.
Would love to hear your ideas though!
Happy St. Patricks Day!
Hi there! I recently stumbled upon your blog and must admit I am in love and your photographs make my mouth water!!!
Thank you for the inspiration and recipes, I’ll be following you on your journeys ^_^
This looks so colorful and Spring-like. Consider it bookmarked. That’s awesome someone recognized your sister!
Yum! I’ll make this with blueberries in the cake. YUMMMM!! I already said that!
BTW, who won the candy give away??
I’m loving that glaze
This looks fabulous. I hope to make it later this afternoon. Mmmm.
LOVE IT!!!
Dear Joy,
I’m from Seattle and my sister and I were just discussing last week how it would be so cool if we spotted you or your sister in the city! (That totally makes us sound star struck and a little crazy!) But in truth we love the blog and I felt a little better about myself when I read that someone else recognized your sister. Tell her that if she is in the mood for Italian food she absolutely must go to La Rustica on Alki. It’s small and charming and the food is hands down the BEST authentic and delicious, italian food I have ever eaten!
That looks so pretty, and I LOVE love love poppy seed cake. Yum!
aaaaw, poppy seeds AND blueberry. that’s so perfect.
i love the pic showing the glaze dripped off in a pretty pattern below the bundt. dee-lightful!
The blueberry gaze really pops. Love that color combo, the drizzle and the drip.
I am definitely making this on Friday :)
I have one question though…how would the glaze recipe change for fresh blueberries?
Thank you for your amazing recipes, stories, and pictures!
That sauce is gorgeous!
Looks fantastic!!! thanks Joy:D
poppy seeds! Love it when they are in cakes. This looks lovely! (:
That glaze is so beautiful! I think I’ll wait and make this cake on a rainy day. It will surely brighten my spirits.
YUM. Going to try with defrosted cherries since only have fresh blueberries right now. *love!*
yu-hum.
Wow, that is so pretty! And I love poppy seeds!
So… I was the one who approached your sister randomly at Quinn’s. I’m a huge fan of your blog! :) Hopefully she didn’t feel like I was some crazed stalker; I just felt compelled to welcome her to Seattle — it’s an amazing city, with some amazing food, and I’m sure she’ll love it!
PS If I ever buy a bundt cake pan, this will be the first thing I make with it.
Such cute photos! How does the blueberry glaze taste? Sweet? Tangy? Thanks!
Joy my dear, treat yourself to a new pair of tweezers. Preferably a slant-edge Tweezerman. One always needs a spare. I often find that when my lost pair does turn up, the extra one goes on hiatus. And we non-blonds cannot be without.
Love the drippy icing photos! :) The cake sounds fabulous!
Wow, before you know it, Lauren is going to be like Charley Murphy. Keep her away from Rick James! :)
Dearest Joy,
I too, am a big fan of the 2nd photo of the dripping blueberry glaze. IT. MAKES. ME. DROOL…and I’m totally digging the light that the new loft has to offer to your photos…love love love!
this looks so great! i’ve to try it someday
woo! go stacy and lauren! and this cake looks scrumptious.
stacy (friend who approached lauren), i have a bundt pan. let’s do this. :)
- K
(friend of stacy’s, part of informal boston fan club :) )
This cake looks awesome! And the flavors– they are amazing!
im not mad about poppy seeds but this looks worth trying. many people are like me not very much attracted to it, but then again when one sees something as pretty as this… i have to try
thanks
Perfect spring cake! So bright and fun. And I just bought a huge jar of poppy seeds and this adorable pan for making mini bundt cakes. Although the blueberry sauce is beautiful, I happen to have a bag of frozen raspberries in my freezer… I’m wondering how a rapberry glaze might work. We’ll see. Thank you Joy – as usual!
Gorgeous!
That is the one thing I hate about glazes…the cleanup after it’s dripped all over whatever I put down to catch it. Of course it taste good so I guess that makes the cleanup worth it.
I made this for dessert last night and everyone, even my poor little girl who just got her wisdom teeth out ate some. Thank you! Another amazing recipe Joy!
gorgeous! glad you’re back to using the new kitchen!
Holy… to me atleast, very different colours – looks really interesting! I would love to try this.
ps: want to check out my blog? If you want to trade links I would love to do that :).
Dear Joy,
I open my computer to your lovely thoughts and wonderful recipes. Thank You!
This cake looks so delicious! The question is what glaze to make to satisfy my blueberry-hating twin sis… Maybe I can do this half blueberry/half lemon. Mmmm!
How sweet (and awesome) is it that that lady recognized your sister and spoke? I’m glad your sister is settling in and that you both had a safe trip moving her stuff. Those pics were great.
-First time commenter, btw… I’ve been following you on Bloglines forever, though!
you could make a strawberry glaze instead of a blueberry glaze. just substitute a few frozen and thawed strawberries instead of blueberries.
thanks for stopping in to say hello! you’re lovely!
Thanks so much for replying! I’m going to do just that this week (Forgot I had to get a new one, lol)
Think the strawberry w/go over better than the blueberry so I’ll give it a try on my church group
Hi, Joy. Love your site! About the glaze, if you’re going to substitute strawberries for blueberries, should you still add the 1/2 tsp. lemon juice? I am assuming the lemon juice is to compliment the blueberries since I often see blueberry recipes with lemon in them.
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