Poppy seed lemon baby cakes

Cakes
300g flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
300g unsalted butter, room temperature
Zest of 4 lemons
6 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tbsp poppy seeds

Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a 12-tin muffin tray. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the lemon zest. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between additions. Add half of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, then add half of the sour cream. Repeat and fold through the poppy seeds. Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Syrup
Juice of 4 lemons
1 ½ cups sugar

Combine lemon juice and sugar in saucepan and cook over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Icing
125g butter, softened
200g cream cheese, softened
4 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add cream cheese and continue beating until light. Add icing sugar ½ cup at a time. Add vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

Assemble

Poke holes in the still-warm cakes and brush with the syrup. Leave for 15 minutes before turning out of muffin tins. Chill, then pipe the icing on the tops of the cakes.

Recipe kindly supplied by

Chef Jen Todd
Global Byte Café
150 Dee Street, Invercargill
(03) 214 4724