Every now and then my sister and I will ask each other out of the blue "Do you remember those Effie Marie cakes?". Those moist cakes drenched with rum, which were usually sold right around the holidays at department stores, were heavenly. My sister and I would run up and taste all of the cakes and then beg our parents to buy one. More often than not our parents would give in and buy one for us or more as gifts. Effie Marie cakes have since disappeared, but I have not forgotten them. I vaguely remember the vanilla and the chocolate ones, but I haven't forgotten the lemon poppy seed one. Since then I have always had a soft spot for lemon poppy seed cakes, but none have even come close to what I remember the Effie Marie cake to be like.

I guess it was just a matter of time before I actually got my act together to make a lemon poppy seed cake which I deemed good enough to compete with my Effie Marie memory. I woke up on Saturday to rain and decided I was going to give it a try. I pulled out several lemon poppy seed cake recipes, compared them, mixed them together and then got started on a recipe. To keep things simple, I decided to leave the rum out and concentrate on the cake itself first. I ended up with a very good lemon poppy seed cake. One that comes very close to Effie Marie. In fact, all that's missing is the rum!

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

170 g soft butter

200 g sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 1-2 lemons

2 eggs

180 g flour

1 tsp baking powder

180 g milk

2 Tbs poppy seeds

juice of one lemon

1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C. Whip butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and zest. Beat in eggs one at a time and scrape down the bowl. Add the flour and baking powder. Mix in milk and then poppy seeds. Pour batter into a pan lined with baking powder. Bake for about 35 min.

Boil lemon juice and sugar until the sugar has dissolved.  Let cake cool on rack and brush with lemon syrup while still warm.