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Almond Poppyseed Loaf Cake is an easy pound cake recipe that’s made in a loaf pan. It’s like a quick bread but a cake all in one, full of almond extract flavor and poppyseed!
Last month, on our family trip to Seattle, we ate several times at Frolik Kitchen + Cocktails, the restaurant in our hotel. Normally I avoid hotel restaurants because they’re usually hyped up chains that don’t serve very good food or have very creative cocktails, but this restaurant was different. The menu was fabulous and everything we had (from breakfast to snacks to dinner) was delicious. I grade every restaurant by the creativity of their cocktail and dessert menus, and that one got high marks for both. (Remember that Rosé Lemonade I made? Inspired by Frolik.)
The dessert menu was pretty unique, which is another thing I’m not used to. I hardly ever order desserts at restaurants because the normal offerings are cheesecake with fruit sauce, creme brûlée, and some sort of chocolate decadence cake, none of which actually taste better than any of my recipes. However, there was one on the menu that caught my eye: Almond Poppyseed Cake. Normally used to seeing lemon poppyseed cake, almond poppyseed was a new flavor combo for me. Also, I was surprised at the offering by a restaurant; almond poppyseed isn’t something I think of as a sexy, modern, millennial-type dessert. So I ordered it. And guess what?
(Obviously, I loved it. We all knew that one.)
Mel ate it. He liked it. He really really liked it! (Get it? ?) He actually liked it more than the peanut butter chocolate whoopee pie. It wasn’t too sweet and it was cake and MEL ATE IT.
Almond Poppyseed Loaf Cake is an easy pound cake recipe made in a loaf pan bursting with almond flavor accented by poppyseed.
AND MEL ATE IT.
This loaf cake is a variation on one I’ve made several times before. I’ve made this cake as a lemon loaf, orange bundt, apple cider pound cake, champagne pound cake…and more. This time I added a hefty dose of almond extract and poppy seeds along with a sweet almond glaze. It’s a cake that’s like a loaf of quick bread…but it’s cak…that makes you want it for breakfast.
While I was making this cake I wondered….why would you add poppyseed to cake? I mean…do they have a flavor? I actually googled it and all I got were recipes for what look like really good lemon poppyseed cakes. So…they’re pretty? I guess? Otherwise the bread would just look like a loaf of cake?
I absolutely LOVE almond extract. There’s a hefty dose in both the cake and the frosting. I would drink almond extract if it tasted as good as it smelled (spoiler alert: it doesn’t).
I know a lot of pound cake recipes start with softened butter, but you’ll notice mine starts with melted butter. This ensures that I don’t have to use a mixer of any kind. That, to me, is priceless. All this cake needs is a bowl and a wooden spoon. I used to want to use my stand mixer all the time and hardly ever used a hand mixer. (I have two stand mixers, after all, because of how much I used to use them.) Now that I make video, I hate using the stand mixers because they look annoying on camera…and I even dislike using the hand mixer.
One bowl easy recipes are what I like these days, especially since making recipe videos add a trillion extra dishes from all the little bowls holding sugar and flour and extract.
If you love the flavor of almond extract you’re going to love this cake as much as I do. Just don’t forget the glaze!
Tips for a perfect loaf cake:
- I love using an 8×4-inch pan. It’s the perfect size for this loaf cake; you’ll get rise out of the cake that way. If you use a larger pan the cake will be flatter.
- Poppyseeds can be found in the baking aisle!
- Be sure to just mix this batter, don’t over mix it. As soon as everything is combined, it’s done.
- Don’t forget the glaze!
- It’s definitely cake but since it looks like quick bread I say eat it for breakfast with coffee. 😉
Almond Poppyseed Loaf Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 ½ cups (186g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup (118ml) milk
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
For the glaze:
- 1 cup (113g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2-4 tablespoons (30-60ml) milk or heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray (the kind with flour) or grease and flour it.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk butter and sugar in a large bowl. Mix in eggs, one at a time, then mix in extracts. Alternately add milk and flour mixture, stirring in between additions, until batter is combined. Stir in poppy seeds.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 20 minutes in pan, then carefully remove to a rack to finish cooling.
- Make the glaze: whisk powdered sugar, extracts, and milk until smooth. Pour over cooled cake.
- Store loosely covered at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month. I like to slice and freeze the slices in sandwich bags.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- Full fat milk is best but you can use low-fat or nondairy. I don’t recommend using fat free milk.
Recipe Nutrition
If you think this recipe is good, try Spend with Pennies’ Almond Poppyseed Cake, Lemon Yogurt Poppyseed Bread by Valerie’s Kitchen, or Iced Lemon Loaf Cake by Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts.
Last Updated on September 5, 2022
If the poppy seeds don’t add flavour , and are more for appearance, Do you think I could sub chia seeds instead? I always have those on hand but not often poppyseeds.
I believe so – but I haven’t tried it. If you do let me know how it works!
This is so good! I made these in a mini Bundt tin and baked for about 20min. Just the perfect amount of almond flavor and a great use of basic pantry items.
Oh yes to your thoughts about almond extract! It brings back wonderful memories of original wedding cakes. I will be making your almond poppy seed bread; double up on the glaze, and pretend it’s a really dense wedding cake! Thanks for your recipes and sweet stories!
One of the best recipes and super easy! To create a more moisture texture I replaced the milk with 1 cup of buttermilk which I made my own (mix 1 cup milk and 1tbsp of lemon juice, leave it for 15 mins). I didn’t use almond essence but stick to vanilla essence. Perfect cake!
So are you saying you substituted 1 cup of Buttermilk for the 1/2 cup of milk and that worked?
Oh my goodness! This almond poppyseed loaf is Delicious!!!!! I love anything almond and have been craving something almond and this hit the spot. Mine too longer to bake, about 60 minutes. Looking forward to having some in the morning with a nice hot cup of coffee. Yum!
I followed the recipe and it tasted so good, but it was a bit dry. Is there something I did wrong or should try next time?
You may have over baked it – did you make any substitutions or use low or nonfat milk? Less fat in the milk can cause dryness as well.
When I was a girl, my favorite breakfast food (if chocolate was not available 😉) was an almond poppy seed muffin. My mother loved surprising me with them because she knew how much I loved them and because of how difficult they were to find. The worst was when someone labeled it almond and it turned out to be lemon! Can you imagine? A little girl expecting the decadent flavor of almond extract and getting lemon! Those mornings were so disappointing that we actually started smelling the muffins through the package before buying! As we all know, eventually the hard to find becomes a thing of the past, as did my almond poppy seed muffins. I don’t think I have had one in at least 15 years! I purchased this giant bottle of almond extract from Amazon because post covid I can’t seem to find the stuff and we put it in so many things! From ice cream, to our coffee, to rice pudding! So, when my giant bottle came, I opened it up and the smell always brings me back to those muffins I loved so much. So, I decided I would make them. But I don’t have a good muffin tin, so I searched for cake instead. After all, the muffins were always more sweet and cakey than other, less delicious muffins! I have not made your recipe yet. I wanted to share because of your mention of, not only, this being a new flavor for you, but because of your many mentions of this being great breakfast option, and I have to agree! Thank you for posting it! I will let you know what I think once I get my hands on some poppy seeds!
I’m not sure how they would stand up to your memories of bakery almond poppyseed muffins, but Krusteaz makes a box mix that I like. They remind me of an angelfood cake (light in texture) with an almond taste. I was used to lemon poppyseed and this was the first I had seen of an almond version. 🙂
Very good cake and easy to make. I used 2 tablespoons of milk in the icing, but still needed more like 3 cups of powdered sugar to make it the right consistency.
What kind of milk do you recommend?
I like whole milk in cakes (higher fat content = more moist) but I’ve also used nondairy milk and nonfat milk just fine.
I am attempting to recreate the almond poppyseed cake we had at our brunch wedding five years ago! Do you think I could use cake rounds and make this into a layered cake? Can’t wait to try!
So to make a cake round with this you’d need to double the recipe. Just know it’s a little denser than a normal cake (a cross between quick bread and pound cake texture). If you try it let me know how it works!
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