Lemon Almond Poppyseed Cake

I saw the picture of these that was so beautiful and tantalizing that I wanted to eat them Right.Now. Something about the bright yellow cake with tiny black specks, and bright white frosting really appealed to me. Plus, I wanted something quick and simple for brunch one morning. So I threw these together in a matter of minutes and they were delicious. Using a cake mix as the base makes these so simple, so fast, no fail, and a definite crowd pleaser.

One little note--I thought I had almond extract and had put everything together when I realized that my bottle of almond extract was in fact, another bottle of lemon extract. Whoops. So I substituted lemon instant pudding for the vanilla instant pudding and 1 tsp. of lemon extract for the almond extract and ended up with lemon poppy seed cake, instead of an almond version. It was delicious, but I'm anxious to make it again with the almond extract. I love the combination of poppy seed and almond extract. But I also love a cake that lends itself easily to substitutions.

Makes 1 Bundt Cake
Recipe Source: A Bountiful Kitchen

Cake
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup oil
2 Tbsp. almond extract
1 cup water
2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1 small package of instant vanilla pudding
1 package lemon cake mix

Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
Juice from 1-2 lemons (about 1/4 cup)
zest from lemons
dash of salt (I omitted this and just used salted butter)
2 Tbsp. melted butter

1. Preheat your oven to 350. Grease (and flour) your bundt cake pan.

2. Combine all the wet ingredients, including eggs, oil, almond extract, and water, and mix until well blended.

3. Add your dry ingredients, including the poppy seeds, cake mix, and pudding mix. Beat at low for about 30 seconds and then at medium speed for about 3 minutes.

4. Pour into the bundt cake and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

5. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes in the pan and then invert it onto a cake platter. Allow to cool completely and then frost.

5. While your cake is cooling, combine the frosting ingredients with a mixer. It will be thick. It's not an icing... it's definitely a frosting consistency and you'll have to actually frost the cake with it... it's not pourable. If you want to thin it out a bit, use a little milk.

Hee hee... while spell checking this, blogger found that I had typed "poopy" in place of "poppy." It made me giggle. Thank goodness for spell check.