Hungarian poppy seed cake

We eat poppy seeds in many desserts. I will endeavor to post a bunch of them here. Lesson number one: get fresh, non-stale poppy seeds (this is a big challenge in the US), lesson number two: grind them into a mush if you actually want to taste them. Optimally, use freshly ground poppy seeds.

We mix this delicious, uniquely-flavored poppy seed meal with sugar, vanilla, milk, sour cream, cherries, zucchini...and the list goes on and on. If you take a walk in Budapest, there will be many street vendors offering you poppy seed-squash strudels, poppy seed-sour cherry pies, and other delicious poppy seed-centric desserts. One thing to watch out for: if you have this as a mid-day snack, you will likely need to brush your teeth to continue being presentable. The black little things stick there.

Ingredients
2 eggs
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups milk
2 cups ground poppy seeds
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
zest of a lemon
icing sugar

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350F.

Grease and flour a 9x11 inch baking shape thoroughly.

Take your ground poppy seeds and mix it with the dry ingredients.

Add in the eggs and oil, then mix in the milk until homogeneous.

Pour into the prepared baking shape and bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the shape for about a minute, until the edges separate from the baking shape.

Flip onto a cutting board, then flip again so it's face-up.

Allow to cool and cut into pretty moon shapes with a circular cutter. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve.

This is a delicious and moist cake. Julia Child describes it in her baking book as a Hungarian poppy seed torte with a cream. The cream is really not necessary. It's tasty as is. An interesting flavor for those uninitiated.

I think it looks like the recent NorthEast snowstorms. Black and white, soft and warm.