You must think I am obsessed with poppy seeds adding another bundt cake featuring this delicious seed. I won’t lie I like poppy seed anything, gnocchi with poppy seeds, cakes, any pastry filled with poppy seed, bundt cakes obviously. Poppy seed is quite popular in my country and it is always used in desserts or sweet pastries. I know in western world poppy seed filling it not quite as popular but just imagine mixing ground poppy seed with some powder sugar and butter and wrapping it in puff pastry for example, maybe even add some jam…. Baked deliciousness!

So what is a poppy seed? According to wikipedia poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the poppy (Papaver somniferum). The tiny kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, especially in Central Europe, where it is legally grown and sold in shops. The seeds are used, whole or ground, as an ingredient in many foods – especially in pastry and bread, and they are pressed to yield poppyseed oil.

But enough about poppy seeds, now back to our Poppy Seed Bundt cake with Vanilla Cream frosting.

I’ve got this recipe from my mom and it is my sisters absolute favorite cake ever. Me and my sister have both our birthdays in January so we always celebrated together and each year one of the cakes would be this one. I’ve gotta say growing up we mostly made this recipe as a cake but I thought why not make a bundt cake out of it too. Sometimes poppy seed cakes can seem a bit dry but its definitely not the case with this one. After you fill it I recommend leaving it sit for a couple of hours so that the cake can soak up some of the creams moisture… it makes it even better! As its filled with a vanilla buttercream we need to keep it the fridge and I personally love it cold just as you take it out. Chocolate on top is optional, you can just decorate it with some sprinkles or shred some chocolate on the top. The cake itself is not overly sweet so adding a cream and chocolate just creates a perfect flavor balance and final touch.

Poppy Seed Bundt Cake with Vanilla Cream Filling

Cake:

• 3 egg yolks
• 3 Tbsp of cold water
• 200g of sugar
• 200g of flour
• 200g of poppy seeds
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 4 egg whites

Vanilla Cream Filling:

• 1 Dr. Oetker vanilla pudding – follow instructions on the pack

or

• 1/2 l of milk
• 200g of sugar
• 3 tbsp of corntarch
• 1 egg yokl
• 1 vanilla sugar or vanilla pod,
• 250g of butter

Chocolate: this is optional

• 100g of dark chocolate
• splash of milk
• 1tsp of butter

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375F.
2. Grease and flour your bundt cake pan. I used the Nordic Ware Anniversary Bundt Pan.
3. Make the cake: In a bowl or blender whisk together egg yolks and sugar. When foamy slowly add water spoon by spoon, mixing in between.
4. In a bowl mix dry ingredients (poppy seeds, flour, baking poweder)
5. Slowly mix the egg and sugar with dry ingredients. The dough will be quite stiff and hard.
6. In a separate bowl whip the egg whites until peaks form.
7. Mix the egg whites with the rest of the dough. Make sure you mix it well, no need to slowly fold this in.
8. Pour in the dough in your bundt pan and bake for about 35 min(time depends on your oven so if making for the first time keep an eye on it)  or until the sick comes out clean.
9. Let the cake cool completely before taking it out of pan.
10. Make the cream: if you bought a packaged vanilla custard follow the instructions on the package.
11. To make from scratch, heat the milk with sugar in a pot (with vanilla sugar or vanilla pod seeds as well). In  a separate bowl whisk egg yolk and corn starch together. When the milk is warm but not hot add a splash to the cornstarch and egg mixture to make it a bit liquid. Make sure there are no lumps and  then gradually pour to the milk while stirring. Cook until the mixture is tick. Turn the heat off and let cool completely.( to speed up cooling place the pot in the sink with cold water and keep stirring)
12. Once the cream is completely cool add butter( room temperature) and whip together with hand mixer.
13. When the cake is completely cold cut it in half. Scrape some of the cake from the bottom part to make space for the cream.
14. Spread the cream on the lower part and cover with the top. Then spread some of the cream on top.
15. For the final touch you can shred some of the chocolate on top. I decided to melt it with some milk and butter ( so I can pour it easily) and pour it over the top.

Let the cake sit in the fridge for a couple of hours so that all the flavors can combine.

Bon Apetit!

Tips:

• If you also have leftover cream you can mix it with the cake and make cake pops! Dip them in the leftover chocolate. Yummy!
• To make a sheet (rectangular) cake double the recipe. You can spread the cream on top or cut it in half and spread in the middle or top. I like shredded chocolate on the cake. 
• You can also add a layer of strawberry jam in the middle or variaty