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.
Carrie
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! :~)
joythebaker
too funny! i have a yoga twin in Arizona!?
i think this cake should work with your egg substitution. give it a go!
Janet
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.
Fran
That cake looks so beautiful, and soooo delicious, I need to try it!
Casey
Oh my, that looks yummy! That would be a great luncheon or shower cake!
Valeria
This looks AMAZING…i’m sooo making this! Your sister is FAMOUS! wooo hooo!
chris sz
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?
joythebaker
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!
Emily
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.
Jess
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!
Gem
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 :)
joythebaker
i’m glad you’re here!
Jessica
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.
jaclyn@todayslady
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!
michelle
aaargh, that photo of the icing dripping under the cake is killing me, too pretty for words joy!
Kristan Roland
That blueberry glaze looks great!!! Beautiful!! :)
Sandy
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.
Nikkilooch
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?
joythebaker
strawberry glaze would be AMAZING!!