“We LOVE this recipe!! I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve made it now. It’s a keeper recipe for me. Sooo much better than lemon poppy seed. Thanks so much for sharing! It’s the best!!” ~ Jeanne
Every once in a while I can’t decide what I want to make. I’ve got too many sticky notes plastering my desk, I’ve bookmarked too many tempting blog posts, there are too many cookbooks lying around with too many little tabs sticking out of their pages, and it overwhelms me. At times like this the id takes over. I just make an arbitrary decision. I want almond poppy seed cake.
But of course no decision is ever arbitrary. Almonds are up there with lemons and chocolate in my top flavors playbook. And ever since I made that delicious Tangerine Cake I’ve been wanting to revisit its moist dense texture, absolutely loaded with crunchy poppy seeds. Between the almond flour, the paste, the extract and the Amaretto there’s 4 layers of almond flavors here, and I could have made it 5 if I’d thought to sprinkle some nuts on top.
There’s no need to buy a big bottle of Amaretto just for this…those little mini bottles are perfect. And you can pop the other half of the tube of almond paste into the freezer for another use. Did you know you can also make your own almond paste? Here is a tutorial from Food52-– all you need is just 4 ingredients and a food processor!
I love the combination of almond and poppy seeds in this cake–it’s classic but often overshadowed by more popular lemon poppy seed recipes. I’ve used it a several times on the blog, in my Amaretto Poppy Seed Ice Cream, and in my Almond Poppy Seed French Toast, for instance. Oh, and of course I’ve made classic Almond Poppy Seed Muffins.
Note: This moist cake keeps well but the glaze will not stay smooth and pretty after a day under a cake dome. If you are serving any kind of glazed cake for company, it’s best to glaze it the same day you’ll be serving it. I won’t lie, I eat this for breakfast, but if you aren’t up for that, at the very least trying having a sliver before lunch!
more for almond lovers
- Almond Ricotta Cake
- Green Beans Almondine
- Paste di Mandorla ~ Sicilian Almond Paste Cookies
- Almond Fig Cake
- toasted almond pavlova with summer berries
- Raspberry Almond Puff Pastry Danish
- Almond Pear Tart
Amaretto Poppy Seed Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup room temperature butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3.5 ounces almond paste, crumbled
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 3 Tbsp Amaretto
- 1 cup poppy seeds
glaze
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract
- milk or cream to thin
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F
- Cream the butter, sugar and almond paste together.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, while beating.
- Mix the buttermilk with the almond extract and Amaretto in a measuring cup.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a small bowl with the poppy seeds.
- Add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet to the butter, beating just to combine.
- Spoon the batter into a greased tube pan and smooth out the top.
- Bake for about 45 – 55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Tube pans vary in capacity and shape, so baking times will vary as well.
- Cool completely before glazing.
- For the glaze mix the confectioner’s sugar with enough milk or cream to thin to a glaze consistency, and add in the extract. You can also use Amaretto to thin the sugar if you prefer. Sprinkle a few poppy seeds or sliced almonds on top if you want to.
Is a tube pan the same as an angel for cake pan? How do you release this cake from it?
This looks amazing!! Can I make a two or three layer cake instead of using a tube pan?
You could experiment with that Mary, I haven’t tried. It is rather dense than a traditional layer cake, so not sure it would be appropriate. I do have a lemon poppy seed layer cake that you might check out.
I liked it and most importantly family liked it. I love ricotta , so I have added ricotta (about 400 g), 1/2 cup semolina (to bake it faster), and 1/2 cup of sugar. Baked in two cake forms. Did not put any icing on the top because it was already sweet exactly enough. Turned out pretty well. Absolutely love the amount of poppy seeds 🙂 but I let them soak overnight in the bowl with buttermilk and ricotta. Just because I have heard it is better this way 🙂 Next time I will experiment with cream cheese frosting or something like this between layers.
We serve ours with a custard pudding. This is from an old German family recipe. ngredients
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks
3 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
How to make it
Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat (about 20 minutes), whisking contantly; boil, whisking constantly or until thickened.
Remove from heat.
Stir in butter and vanilla.
Place heavy duty plastic wrap directly on surface of custard to keep “skin” from forming.
We serve it warm with the cake.
Yummy!! I’ll try your recipe 🙂
Ok, so you had me at the amaratto, -almond and poppy seed, oh yes! This will be made, the sooner the better. I just wantef want to ask , you list almond flour, the next flour is not specified as to what type, so i am hoping i am correct by thinking it is all purpose. Can you please confirm this.?
That’s all-purpose, yes. I’ll clarify that in the recipe. Hope you enjoy 🙂
We LOVE this recipe!! I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve made it now. It’s a keeper recipe for me. Sooo much better than lemon popoyseed. I’ve even converted a friend who had some & loved it, previously she had only tried it with lemon. My mom & sister loved it too and asked for the recipe. I’ve used this recipe to make cupcakes for a baby shower with a whipped cream cheese frosting. Always turns out moist & delicious. Only changes I’ve made are small personal preferences, I use half the poppyseeds & I like to add a spoonful of sour cream or mascarpone to the batter. Thanks so much for sharing! It’s the best!!
It’s been so long since I’ve made this and your comment has got me craving some 🙂
Salted or unsalted butter? Thank you 🙂
I always use unsalted 🙂