Lately, I got into baking traditional Slovak recipes and friends, I love it. Slovak cuisine is full of amazingly delicious dishes and sweets. Sweets, cakes, and desserts are a big part of our culture. If it’s three-course Sunday lunch or time for a Wednesday afternoon coffee, there is always a good reason for a nice piece of cake.

But the truth as well is, that many traditional recipes and many of those I inherited from my grandma are packed with loads of sugar and what was back-in-days popular – margarine and preserved (canned) fruits. And because I don’t like to use any of those, I have been playing with some of those traditional recipes, combining ingredients and ratios, and substituting canned for fresh to enhance the nutritional value and at the same time preserve the taste of those delicious desserts.

This Poppy Seed Cake is a real treat. Packed with nutritious poppies, creamy mascarpone and white chocolate mousse combined with sour-ish cream and fresh aftertaste of raspberries. Very good choice for a birthday cake or decadent Sunday treat.

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INGREDIENTS
(ingredients for a small cake, round pan size 6inch or 15cm) 

Dough

2 Eggs (egg whites & egg yolks separately)

60g Sugar (white)

20g Flour (Spelt or All-Purpose)

90g Grinded Poppy Seeds 

20g Milk

Teaspoon Baking Powder 

Pinch of Cinnamon and Salt 

♥

Filling

100g Mascarpone

70g Sour Cream

50g Heavy (whipping) Cream

50g White Chocolate 

2 Tablespoons Raspberry Jam 

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice 

Fresh Raspberries 

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METHOD

1. Whisk 2 egg yolks (room temperature) with sugar until creamy, pale, and fluffy. Mix in poppy seeds, flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt and cinnamon. Pour in milk and stir it all together
2. Whisk 2 egg whites (room temperature) until stiff peaks form and add them, little by little to the rest of the batter. Do not overmix!
3. Pour your batter into a pan lined with a parchment paper and bake for some 20-25 minutes at 180°C or 350°F. Let your cake cool down at room temperature and transfer to the fridge to cool down completely (for couple hours/overnight)
4. While your cake is cooling down, prepare a filling. Melt white chocolate in a bowl over boiling water (double-boiling method) and let it cool down completely. In the meantime, mix your mascarpone with sour cream and half of the prepared heavy cream on a very low speed in your standing mixer attached with a whisk. Once the chocolate has cooled down, start pouring it slowly into the mascarpone & sour cream mousse that’s being whisked on a low speed. After that, add the rest of the heavy cream and mix it at a higher speed. Mix the cream until fluffy and stiff but do not overmix. Transfer your cream into the fridge to set and cool for at least 1 hour
5. Once your cake and cream are cool and set, it’s time to fill. Cut your cake thru two times so you’ll get 3 pieces of cake. Spread some raspberry jam mixed with some lemon juice on the first cake layer, layer with fresh raspberries, and then layer with cream. Repeat with the other piece of cake and finish with the cream that you spread on the top and around the whole cake. Place back to the fridge for at least 3 hours, ideally overnight. Decorate with leftover raspberries, poppy seeds, and enjoy with a glass of red wine or a cup of black coffee

Dobrú chuť,
Lenka