Recipe: Lemon Poppyseed Chiffon Mini Cakes | Petits Gâteaux au Citron et Graines de Pavot

Jul 24

Lemon poppyseed mini cake baked in a six-inch round springform pan.

What is one fruit that is always correct in both France and Michigan?

Lemons. A reminder of a pleasant sunny day, lemons can offer cheerful comfort in the winter as well as refreshing energy in the summer.

This cake can take on many forms, but the flavor and texture are a classic. The egg whites are whipped separately from the rest of the batter to create a fluffy, airy cake with moistness made possible by the butter, vegetable oil, and buttermilk. Although denser and more crumbly than a French-Italian génoise (sponge cake), the melt-in-your-mouth sensation of this cake calls to mind lemon poppy seed Madeleines, and equally begs for un petit café ou thé en accompagnement.

Lemon poppyseed cakes with their ramekins and a jar of lemon marmalade.

Recipe: Lemon Poppyseed Chiffon Mini Cakes
Petits Gâteaux au Citron et Graines de Pavot

Ingredients - Cake:

Lemons - 3 large or 4 small, with the zest, juice, and rinds separated and set aside
Butter - 1/2 cup, softened to room temperature (used: Finlandia unsalted)
Sugar - 1 cup + 1 tbsp (used: 3/4 cup organic unrefined cane sugar + 1/4 cup coconut sugar)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Honey - 3 tbsp
Vanilla paste or extract - 1 tsp (used: Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste)
Lemon extract - 1 tsp (if available)
Vegetable oil - 5 tbsp (used: 3 tbsp unrefined coconut oil + 1 tbsp red palm oil + 1 tbsp olive oil)
Buttermilk - 1/4 cup
Eggs - 3, whites and yolks separated
Flour - 2 cups all-purpose
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon - tiny pinch (optional)
Poppy seeds - 3 tbsp

Directions:

Prepare small cake pans and/or ramekins (I used four ramekins, along with a six-inch springform pan): Coat the sides generously with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper or flattened cupcake baking cup liners.
Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit / 177° Celsius (or slightly more at high altitude).
In a large mixing bowl, using a balloon whisk, mix the butter, 1 cup sugar, salt, honey, vanilla, and lemon extract until creamy.
Add the vegetable oil, buttermilk, and egg yolks. Continue mixing until uniformly creamy and thick to fluffy.
Add all the lemon zest, half of the lemon juice, and poppy seeds. Mix until uniform.
Add the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Whisk slowly until all the flour is absorbed and batter is smooth. If the flour seems too dry or stiff to add whipped egg whites, add more lemon juice.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the egg whites with the remaining 1 tbsp sugar. Use an egg galaxy whisk to beat the egg whites until fluffy, shiny, and stiff peaks can be formed.
Add the whipped egg whites to the cake batter. Use the balloon whisk to gently mix everything together until the batter is uniform. Do not overmix.
Divide the batter between the prepared pans. If using ramekins, the batter should be filled no more than 3/4 full. If using a cake pan, the batter should be filled no more than 2 inches deep.
Bake for 25-40 minutes (I baked the ramekins for 30 minutes and the springform pan for about 35 minutes), removing from the oven when the cakes are solid and golden on top, and medium golden brown around the edges.
Serve soon, best warm. Optional: Dust the top with powdered sugar. (I did not do this as I find the cake sweet enough, and I wanted to let the poppy seed-dabbled lemon-yellow cake glow bare.) Slice in half and enjoy with butter, whipped cream, lemon preserves, or as-is. Refrigerate directly in the baking pans, or remove from the pans and store in a sealed container in a cool dark place.
(Optional) Use the lemon rinds to make lemon marmalade. The rind is bitter, but a sufficient amount of sugar will round out the flavors nicely.

Cake batter

The batter, just before adding the lemon zest.

Poppy seeds have been added.

The whipped egg whites sit like a cloud atop a mountain, rendering a total white-out for all its mountaintop inhabitants.

The sides are buttered (not enough, in my opinion) and cupcake liners were added to the bottoms.

All the batter, put in its rightful place.

Fresh out of the oven! -Oh, and what’s that in the upper left corner?? Could that be…

…Lemon rinds! Do not throw away. Use.

The cakes. | Les gâteaux.

Cakes and lemon marmalade. | Des gâteaux et de la confiture au citron.

Lemon rinds, taking a hot bath in sugar water.

It’s not as vivid yellow as it would be with the zest, but that’s okay. C’est délicieux.

This lil’ lemon cake was baked in a six-inch diameter springform cake pan.

A cake slice. Sure, you can add powdered sugar - if you don’t eat the cake first!

Variations:

This is my second attempt. Almost every time I return to a recipe, I make one or two modifications. Next time, I might try a variation:

To make muffins: Line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners. Divide the batter between about 12-18 muffin spaces (depending on the size you desire). Bake for approximately 20-30 minutes or until muffins are lightly golden brown around the edges.