Two days ago my sister was out in Seattle having dinner with a friend. ย Simple enough, right?
She was approached my a friendly faced woman and asked “Are you Joy the Baker’s sister?” ย My ย sister burst into confused laughter. ย 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. ย The confusing part is that you all might recognize my sister in the world. ย Awesome. ย Odd. ย Strange. ย And awesome again.
Have I told you how awesome you are? ย How glad I am that you’re here? ย How glad I am that you would say hi to my sister if you saw her in Seattle? ย Well…. you are awesome. ย I’m so stoked that you’re here and thanks for being nice to my sister. ย For. ย Reals. ย Cause if you weren’t nice to her… we’d have to fight. ย That would be weird.
In other news… I can’t find my tweezers and I made you a cake. ย Let’s discuss.
I’m a sucker for an easy bundt cake… especially when it happens to be covered in blue glaze. ย This cake is all sorts of straight forward. ย It comes together in two bowls and bakes up in 45 minutes. ย I love the teeny tiny crunch of poppy seeds. ย To make this more of a breakfast cake, you might add fresh blueberries into the poppy seed batter. ย To make this more of a simple and fancy cake, leave the blueberries only for the glaze. ย 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. ย Place a rack in the center of the oven. ย Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. ย In another medium bowl, whisk together canola oil, buttermilk, egg, vinegar, and vanilla extract. ย Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once. ย Whisk together until just combined and no lumps remain. ย Stir in the poppy seeds. ย 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. ย 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 ofย dark blue juice. ย Remove most of the blueberry skins from the juice and discard. ย Add the vanilla extract, buttermilk and lemon. ย Add the powdered sugar and whisk to combine. ย If the mixture is too thick, add more milk to reach the desired consistency. ย 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.
154 Responses
This was good, and VERY pretty! Next time I try making this, I might add blueberries directly into the batter along with either lemon juice or a bit of almond extract for more flavor variety.
In the recipe where it says allow the cake to cook in the pan for 20 minutes, I assume you mean cool in the pan. Because I’m baking this right now & that’s what I’m doing!
you’re on the right track!
Hi Joy! I just found your website and love it. I made lemon buttermilk cookies today and used your blueberry glaze on top. They turned out yummy and look pretty, too (www.bakedandbrewed.com). I can’t wait to experiment with more of your recipes.
Melanie
DEAREST, BELOVED, JOY!
you’re making me fat.
(but extremely happy)
all because of this cake.
:)
Hey Joy, Not sure if you’ll get this since this is an older post, but thought I’d try! I was going to make this cake to take to an event this weekend. Can I make the glaze ahead of time and just put on cake once we’re there? Or will the consistency be off if it sits in a bowl for too long? THANKS!!!
hi melissa. the glaze should be fine to be made ahead and then put on the cake. just give it a good stir to loosen it up, and add just a few drops to a teaspoon of water if you need to loosen it more. happy baking!!
thanks joy! you rock :)
I made this the other night after dinner. It was gone within half an hour. And every one said they loved it. Oh yes, this one is going in the book. Thanks!
Hi, Joy. Could you please answer my question I asked at the beginning of April? You suggested to another reader that they could substitute strawberries for the blueberries when making the glaze. My question was: If you use strawberries do you still need to use the lemon juice? Thank You.
Hi Joy,
I was wondering if there was any difference between using frozen blueberries or fresh ones. I can’t seem to find frozen ones anywhere, unless of course, you meant buy them freeze them and then thaw them?
I follow your website compulsively, and as an active baker, I just have to say it’s wonderful.
Thanks,
Mridula
frozen blueberries produce more blue juice which gives you the color you want for the glaze. what if you froze your fresh blueberries overnight and then used them for the recipe… you only need a handful!
I squeeled. In a rather scary way. Quite loud.
Poppy seeds. And blueberries. It’s like a dream come true, and I’ve never thought of combining them.
Oh, wait. I’ve probably already combined them in and on pancakes.
This was the first thing I’ve baked in a long while. I added lemon zest to the batter. I found the cake quite oily, so if I make it again I may reduce the amount of oil, or even make it using butter.
I’m glad I made it, because it made me go out and get some poppyseeds, so now I have them on hand to make muffins!
Thank you for your lovely, inspiring blog, Joy.
Happy Spring to you and all your family!
WOW! This has to be one of the best poppy seed cakes I’ve ever had the pleasure of serving up with morning tea!
Just made this last night, I added about 1/3 cup lime rind and subbed the buttermilk for limeade, omitted the vinegar and vanilla and subbed fresh lime juice. I baked it for a good 20 minutes more than you specify, but that’s because I worried I had fudged it up by adding dense limeade (pretty much akin to lime cordial) instead of buttermilk, which is lighter.
But in the end, I ended up with a frightfully lime-luscious cake of Queens. Seriously, worth savoring every morsel! I will definitely try more of your recipes in the future! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!!!!!
LOVE the colour the blueberries make the icing!
I love the glaze! I haven’t tried the poppyseed cake yet, but I used the glaze on a monkey bread recipe. Thanks!
made this today as a celebratory “i was finally accepted to grad school” cake. it was awesome!!
the second picture down is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.
I made this yesterday and it was so simple and delicious! I had a piece this morning with my coffee…perfection.
I made this for dessert last night, and my friend who works as a baker fell in love with it. So, I can add this to a list that includes pumpkin cookies, root beer float cake (which went like gangbusters at my son’s school’s cake walk last month), black and white red velvet cookies, blackberry pie bars,and s’mores brownies of things that are huge hits with my loved ones. I know anything I make from your site will be yummy, plus I love coming here to read about your adventures. And, looking at your new post, I have a feeling I’ll be making caramel corn while my son’s on Spring Break this week.
Your photos make me smile. EVERY SINGLE TIME!
There’s a great hue on the glaze! And I absolutely LOVE the shot of the dripped glaze on the table! No poppy seeds here, so I’m just bookmarking the glaze!
Can I just say I fell in love with the vibrant glaze! What a way to turn up the heat on something already so yum. Unfortunately, there arent poppy seeds in Singapore coz it’s banned or something…I think they’re worried about…opium?
LOVE a poppyseed Bundt cake. I might try this with some lemon zest in it! Yummy!!
Hi Joy,
I live in Australia, and I am not sure what powered sugar is?
Could it perhaps be icing sugar?
I love your website so much, and look forward to doing more of your amazing recipes!
All the love from the land down under,
Ruby :)
yes… powdered sugar is icing sugar… or confectioner’s sugar.
Oh now I just feel so daft haha! My dad’s a pastry chef and straight after I sent that question/comment to you, I asked him and he sort of laughed at me. I am really quite embarrassed. Well I made the cake, and the glaze wasnt as nice looking as yours. The colouring was different and it sort of dried clear. Oh well, I guess I have a lot of learning to do! However, it tasted really, really nice, as everyone said, even my dad who is always a little too proud!
Thanks for the help :)
Joy! I made this tonight! I was a little worried at first because whenever I think of bundt cake I think dry and hard. not the case. This had to be seriously the best cake I have had in long long long time. Thank you so much for sharing this! <3
OH MY GOD! Joy! I made this tonight! I was a little worried at first because whenever I think of bundt cake I think dry and hard. not the case. This had to be seriously the best cake I have had in long long long time. Thank you so much for sharing this! <3
this looks like a bundt full of delicious. saturday brunch? i think so.
My gosh that look luscious. And it’s kinda cool that you’re becoming your own kind of famous. I can tell, just by the number of comments you’re getting! Because of the number, I want to reiterate that I was serious about sending you a bookmark, if you want it. When you get to my comment swimming within the (over) one thousand you got for that candy post, just come pick one out and it’s yours!
:o)
~Jenn
Wow Joy, your second and then your last picture are amazing! I love the way you caught the blueberry glaze dirpping and the colours are really good too!! That is pretty funny, but cool how people recongize your sister. Do you have to you the canola oil though?
What a beautiful cake! That glaze is just such a pretty color, and looks like springtime :)
This looks so delightfully spring-ish, I’m going to have to try it!
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.
Dear Joy,
I open my computer to your lovely thoughts and wonderful recipes. Thank You!
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 :).
gorgeous! glad you’re back to using the new kitchen!
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!
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.
Gorgeous!
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!
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
This cake looks awesome! And the flavors– they are amazing!
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 looks so great! i’ve to try it someday
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!
Wow, before you know it, Lauren is going to be like Charley Murphy. Keep her away from Rick James! :)
Love the drippy icing photos! :) The cake sounds fabulous!
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.
Such cute photos! How does the blueberry glaze taste? Sweet? Tangy? Thanks!
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.
Wow, that is so pretty! And I love poppy seeds!
yu-hum.
YUM. Going to try with defrosted cherries since only have fresh blueberries right now. *love!*
That glaze is so beautiful! I think I’ll wait and make this cake on a rainy day. It will surely brighten my spirits.
poppy seeds! Love it when they are in cakes. This looks lovely! (:
Looks fantastic!!! thanks Joy:D
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!
The blueberry gaze really pops. Love that color combo, the drizzle and the drip.
That sauce is gorgeous!
i love the pic showing the glaze dripped off in a pretty pattern below the bundt. dee-lightful!
aaaaw, poppy seeds AND blueberry. that’s so perfect.
That looks so pretty, and I LOVE love love poppy seed cake. Yum!
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!
LOVE IT!!!
This looks fabulous. I hope to make it later this afternoon. Mmmm.
I’m loving that glaze
Yum! I’ll make this with blueberries in the cake. YUMMMM!! I already said that!
BTW, who won the candy give away??
This looks so colorful and Spring-like. Consider it bookmarked. That’s awesome someone recognized your sister!
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 ^_^
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!
I love the color! My husband is a blueberry fanatic…I’m going to have to make this one for him! Thanks!
mmm :)
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!
inaccessible..*smacks forehead*
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*
Yum! I am going to make this for Easter…It 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!!
I love poppy seeds and as far as I’m concerned there aren’t enough recipes with them. That purple blueberry glaze looks amazing!
You girls are famous! Funny story! Love this cake. Perfect for spring!
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.
That glaze looks great! And so does the cake :) !
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?
Most beautiful photos!
You didn’t mention if this was made in your new kitchen, if so, congrats at having a functional kitchen again! And it looks delicious by the way, art through bundt!
this is crazy! i was looking for a recipe for my under utilized bundt pan – that i bought by the way just to make the mocha coffee coffee cake. yay!
I am SO going to make this for the Friday morning Bible Study!!! The ladies will love it. It’s all Springy and all (like the season Spring). Thanks. Hope you have a great day!
I like that your recipe does not have way too many eggs. I made poppy seed cake about two weeks ago and its amazing. I am going to try it again soon with the blueberry glaze. Check mine out!
https://fetaarepa.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/caramelized-almonds-twisted-poppy-seed-cake/
I am SO making this!! How important are the eggs in the cake batter? I have a son who is deathly allergic to eggs, so I always substitute with a baking powder-oil-water combination, but not sure if that would work in this recipe?
As always, Joy, thanks for sharing your amazing baking skillz with the rest of the world…
Also, interestingly enough, I recently had a yoga instructor who I swear could have been your twin… I even introduced myself to her after class just to be certain it wasn’t you, taking up a new job in Arizona! :~)
too funny! i have a yoga twin in Arizona!?
i think this cake should work with your egg substitution. give it a go!
Wow! That color is AWESOME! Glad that you are baking again. Does that mean you’re getting settled?
And that is some sort of measure of celebrity, to have your sister recognized in public. Very exciting.
That cake looks so beautiful, and soooo delicious, I need to try it!
Oh my, that looks yummy! That would be a great luncheon or shower cake!
This looks AMAZING…i’m sooo making this! Your sister is FAMOUS! wooo hooo!
It looks so good, but I would love to add the blueberry to the mix as well. How much should I add and do any of the other amounts change?
great question chris. i would say, just throw a cup of fresh or frozen blueberries into the batter and call it a day. the cake will be lovely!
Joy, can I tell you something weird? Last week I had a dream that I was at my local mall and came across a cooking class. Taught by you. I was so, so, so excited about meeting you in my dream, but somehow I forgot all about this dream until hearing about your sister’s story. So… any chance you could make it to Salt Lake City to make my dream a reality? :D Oh, and this cake looks delicious! I love blueberries and poppy seeds.
What a simple, beautiful cake. I bet this would be absolutely lovely for a brunch. A brunch a may be having in April, actually. I need to put this on the menu immediately!
This sounds a bit soppy really but you speak so beautifully about your sister…it’s really touching :)
The cake looks fantastic…love the bright purple glaze. I’m definitely going to give this one a try as we don’t really seem to have bundt cake in England so I’ve never had the tasting pleasure.
I’m new to the whole blog culture and I lurve your site Joy…you’ve totally taken my ‘post reply to blog’ virginity!! What can I say…I’m smitten with your baked delights :)
i’m glad you’re here!
I hate those days when you can’t find the tweezers. I always feel as if everyone is staring at me because I now have caterpillar-brows.
If I ever saw your sister (or you) I would just end up staring at you for an unreasonably long time, trying to figure out where I know you from, until I made us both uncomfortable. It’s my thing.
I love that someone recognized your sister!!! I probably would have too! Oh, the blog world…
That cake looks delicious! I love a good bundt cake!
aaargh, that photo of the icing dripping under the cake is killing me, too pretty for words joy!
That blueberry glaze looks great!!! Beautiful!! :)
Tweezers?
Cake looks awesome – bet it smells heavenly too – I will have to make it for my son (OK the rest of the family too) – he’s home for spring break ;-)
A baking mom is an awesome mom.
I’m going to make this cake this weekend. But I think I’m going to try a Strawberry glaze or maybe strawberries and whipped cream? It’s just that the strawberries are starting to come in season here and I’d love to include them in a dinner party this weekend.
Should I stick with the blueberry instead?
strawberry glaze would be AMAZING!!
Heaven. Happiness. Yumminess.
I love that someone recognized your sister!!! This is just the BEST.
I adore poppy seeds. Winner, winner!
i need to buy a bundt cake pan STAT… you have out done yourself again!
how pretty!
Bundt cakes are awesome, love them!
GORGEOUS Joy!
Simple and gorgeous!
Awesome cake ~ I was going to make a bundt today…thanks!
Most knowledgeable Joy, can you tell me please what the role of poppy seeds in baked goods is? I love anything lemon flavored, but as far as I can tell, poppy seeds just get stuck in people’s teeth. This is likely just my unrefined palate though. Please enlighten me. :)
Excellent post, as usual.
This cake is absolutely stunning! So pretty!!
Love this! The flavor combinations and blueberry glaze to top it off. I am printing this one. Thanks Joy!
Mmmm, that cake looks super. I’d say hi to you or your sister if I saw you out & about, but it would take me a minute to move past silent excitement!
I just would love to have this for my breakfast, lunch and dinner tonight. It’s the happiest cake ever.
<3
Hmmm looks lush!!
deliciously awesome! my frozen blueberries have just found a use for them…
That’s pretty awesome about your sister.
But my main attention was on the cake. I’m not even a huge fan of blueberry and I am dying to try this. My husband will die of happiness. He loves blueberries. I’m going to have to stock up on this and some other blueberry recipes for summer.
What an incredible looking cake! That glaze really looks delicious!
This cake just makes me happy!
This cake looks so uplifting and not to mention delicious. Who did you share it with? Not that you have to share it but just curious because I can imagine anyone would like to nibble on that. :)
How awesome that your sister was recognized! That’s so cool!
I just printed out this recipe…it looks delicious!
I gave up sweets for Lent, should I break my vow?!
My god. Its like food porn.
Ahhh that glaze is the most gorgeous color! I want two slices of this: one to eat and one as artwork.
it’s so fun and girly! love it!
That glaze looks absolutely sinful!
I love the photo with the blueberry glaze dripping off of the cake to the counter! It looks amazing!
The blueberry glaze looks so beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
Magnificent colour! Great idea.
Ooh, that glaze would be dy-no-MITE! over a lemon cake! I’ll try it this weekend and see how it turns out…
In other news, how cute is it that someone recognized your sister?! I’m so bad at recognizing famous people (I served Clint Eastwood once during my waitressing/college days and didn’t realize it until I saw the manager have a conniption fit in the kitchen). I’m glad that it made you two happy! :)
Love the colour of the glaze, dreamy. Can I use butter (or something else) instead of canola oil?
Thanks
Wow, the blueberry glaze looks soooo incredible!