Sugar Free Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Sugar Free Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is a simple and refreshing cake recipe that features the flavor of fresh lemon with the added crunch from poppy seeds.

This delicious cake is light and fluffy and comes with an optional no added sugar cream cheese frosting.

What makes lemon poppy seed cake so good?

 
This lemon cake has the wonderful citrus flavor expected from lemons with the surprise crunchy texture that is provided from the poppy seeds.

With the perfect combination of texture and flavor, this simple loaf cake can be served about any time of the day but, especially for a tasty dessert.

Did you try my recipe for Sugar Free Lemon Pudding Cookies?

Those simple cookies are also full of flavor and moisture thanks to the sugar free pudding that is added to the recipe. Both this recipe for lemon poppy cake and that recipe for lemon pudding cookies are delicious lemony recipe ideas that can be made with no added sugar.

Poppy seed can be hard to find. You can find a selection of poppy seeds here.

The ingredients needed to make lemon poppy seed cake made sugar free.

• Flour. All purpose flour or a similar flour that measures and bakes like all purpose flour may work in this recipe.
• Baking Powder. The leavener used to make this cake with.
• Poppy Seeds. Feel free to adjust the amount used in this recipe to your liking. For softer poppy seeds you can soak them in hot water before adding them to this recipe.
• Butter. It is essential that your butter is softened (not melted) to room temperature so that it can properly blend with the other ingredients.
• Sugar Alternative. Select a granular sugar alternative that measures like sugar and that can also be baked with.
• Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest. This is where the wonderful flavoring comes from.
• Milk. Use a full-fat milk for better moisture. You can also substitute in Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream for part of the milk to make your cake even more moist and rich.
• Vanilla Extract. This is added for a bit of flavor balance in your cake.
• For the frosting you will need sugar free powdered sugar and cream cheese.

Expert Tip👉 For optimal blending, your dairy ingredients should be at room temperature before adding them to this recipe.

How to make Sugar Free Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Prep Time: 10 minutes.
Bake Time: 50 minutes.
Servings:10.

1. Start by preheating your oven to 350 and preparing a loaf pan for nonstick. I like to use parchment paper that has been lightly sprayed with a bit of nonstick for a recipe such as this one.
2. In a medium bowl use a whisk to combine together the flour, baking powder, and poppy seeds.
3. Next, in a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar alternative until creamy. Then stir in the lemon juice, milk, and vanilla extract.
4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the dry ingredients from the first bowl to the mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients until just combined.
5. Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes or until the the cake begins to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and let it sit in the pan for ten minutes. Then use the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the pan to fully cool on a rack.
7. To make the frosting, simply combine the ingredients until cream enough for spreading over your cake. You can make ingredient adjustments as needed for texture. Adding a small amount of milk can thin out your frosting if needed as well.

Expert Tip👉 Additional lemon zest, poppy seeds, along with lemon slices can be used to make your frosted cake look even better!

Tips for making the best poppy seed cake.

This cake is made using regular all purpose flour. You can however use an alternative all purpose flour, such as low carb all purpose flour or gluten free all purpose flour, as long as they measure and bake like regular all purpose flour.

More helpful tips for you.

1. Parchment paper that overhangs the sides of the pan was used to line the loaf pan when making my cake. This was done to make it easier to both remove the cake for cooling and for an easier clean up afterwards.
2. Here is a tip to help your cake bake more evenly. Carefully use a butter knife to make a shallow cut along the center of the cake after it has baked for 10 minutes.
3. Allow the cake to fully cool before frosting it. If the cake is still warm the frosting will lose its structure which can ruin the appearance of your cake.
4. Do you have to use a loaf pan to make this cake? Feel free to use a bundt, cake, or even a cupcake pan to make this recipe. However, keep in mind that the baking time will most likely need to be adjusted.