French Lemon-Poppy Pound Cake

A simple dinner – grilled steak, salad and roasted potatoes. The only thing here that required a recipe was this lovely little cake.

Before I get into details about the cake, I should mention the roasted potatoes that came before dessert. Fingerlings, cut in half and tossed with salt, pepper and chopped rosemary. Normally I’d use olive oil, but I had this duck fat sitting in the refrigerator… and it makes a nice potato. A really, really good potato.

Roasted cut-side down until the potatoes were brown and crispy, the duck fat adds a richness but doesn’t overpower with it’s own flavor. It’s got a high smoke point so it’s great for frying or sautéing. I rendered my own because I had pulled the skin off of a couple of duck breasts (don’t judge me – I don’t like duck but Coco gets it occasionally as a high-value treat for training!).

We’ve got a bit of a lemon-poppyseed thing in this house. Years and years ago, I could cook just fine but I wasn’t much of a baker. I had three desserts in my arsenal – raspberry chocolate cheesecake, sour cream chocolate sheet cake, and a lemon poppyseed Bundt cake. I remember the first time I made the lemon cake for Larry – he loved it, and has asked for it regularly ever since.

My dirty secret with that cake is that it was based on a cake mix. Oh, I added my own stuff to it – sour cream, poppy seeds, other things I can no longer remember. It was a good cake. But when I eventually became a better baker, I quit buying cake mixes and I’ve never looked back. So now I’m always looking for something that will replace that yummy, simple cake I used to make.

Like every other recipe I’ve made from Flour, this doesn’t disappoint. It’s moist, simple, and has a nice flavor. I prefer a Bundt shape, I think – but the loaf is nice too. Makes for easy transport.

Find the recipe for the cake (along with a ton of other great recipes and baking posts) at the fabulous Real Baking with Rose.

• Grilled Filet Mignon
• Duck Fat-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Rosemary
• Leaf Lettuce with Ranch Dressing (The Best Light Recipe, p. 37)
• French Lemon-Poppy Pound Cake (Flour, p. 70)