Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

The year after we graduated from college, I brought my group of friends…which included one certain future Husband, home to the Cape.

My dad, naturally, found it to be the perfect time to enlist the boys into helping him chop wood, telling them “any day you get to use a chain saw, that’s a good day.”  It’s a wonder the Husband stuck around.

And yet, I feel the same way about my standing bowl mixer, which I wrestled out of its storage place to make this lemon poppy seed pound cake in celebration of our book club anniversary.

Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

for the cake

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened, plus LOTS of butter for greasing the pan
• 2 cups cake or all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 eggs, yolks separated from whites
• about a teaspoon grated lemon zest
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 small container of poppy seeds (about 1/4 cup)

for the glaze

• about 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
• juice from the other 1/2 lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Seriously butter a 9×5 inch loaf pan.  And then butter it again, because this pound cake likes to stay in there.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in a small bowl; set aside.
3. Use your mixer (yay!) to cream the butter until smooth.  Add about half the sugar, mix through, add the other half.  Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time.  You’ll need to scrape down the sides of the bowl so everything mixes through.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients…and here’s where it gets less fun: by hand.  You might actually need to put your hands in the bowl and smoosh the ingredients together.  Add the lemon juice and lemon zest.
5. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks.  Fold them into the rest of ingredients, gently, along with the poppy seeds.
6. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for about 70 minutes.  In the meantime, make the glaze by whisking all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.  Let the cake rest about 5 minutes before extracting from the pan.  Let cool completely before glazing and slicing.