Lemon and poppy seeds cake with syrup

Easy, simple but always tasty and refreshing the lemon cake! Alternatively, instead of poppy seeds use 1 tsp of crushed cardamom seeds for a different flavour

Adapted from a recipe of Elias Demirtzoglou,

"Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients (for 10 people)

For the cake:
250gr. of butter (or margarine), at room temperature
225gr. of granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
3 small lemons, juice and zest
2 tbsp of poppy seeds
280gr. self-raising flour

For the syrup:
100gr. of icing sugar
3 large lemons, the juice

Method:
Preheat the oven at 160°C. Grease with some butter and lightly flour a cake tin of 21 X 13cm.

In a large bowl beat the butter with the sugar for 2-3 minutes until creamy and pale in colour. Add the eggs, one at a time (while not stopping beating), the vanilla, the lemon zest and the poppy seeds.

Then add, alternately, the lemon juice and the flour without stopping beating the ingredients. Empty the cake mixture in the cake tin and put in the oven.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until the blade of a knife comes out clean and dry when you immerse it in the centre of the cake.

While the cake is still in the oven prepare the syrup because you need it to be lukewarm. Put in a saucepan the lemon juice and the sugar on medium heat and boil for 1 minute stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar is completely dissolved. Take the saucepan off the heat and leave aside.

Take the cake out of the oven and leave it to stand for 5 minutes. Turn it onto a serving plate and while it is still hot pour over with the lukewarm syrup.

Leave the cake to cool completely and absorb the syrup before you slice and serve.