You may not know this but I am half Hungarian. My grandmama has passed this recipe down from her grandmother, Baroness Anna Piriti-Farkas.. One day, she invited my sisters, my mother and me to make Hungarian Poppy Seed Cake. We had fun and I learned a lot. This recipe is nothing like the other poppy seed cake recipes out there. Before making it with my grandma and getting the recipe from her, we literally tried about 6 different recipes and none of them tasted as delicious and authentic as the real recipe.
Below the recipe, I’ve included a healthier version of the recipe. All I did was swapped out healthier substitutes for the real ingredients in the recipe to result in a more “real food” way of making the cake. The picture shown above is the part of the process where you knead the dough on a floured surface.
This is the syrup before the poppy seeds are added.
When adding the poppy seeds, hold off a portion of it so that you don’t put too much in. My grandmama says that one time, she had to start all over because she added the whole pound of poppy seeds at once and the filling was too dry and “not right.” Let me just tell you, she never made that mistake again. But you know what they say: “Live and learn.”
The filling should be smooth and thick enough to spread but not too thick.
My younger sister put the egg wash on each time. You have to let the egg wash dry before you put the next coat on, which is about a 15 minute wait time for each egg wash. This counts as the rising time too, since this is a yeast bread. You would think that just because it’s yeast dough that it’s harder to make, but it really isn’t that complicated and every knead in worth the ending product.
Here’s the recipe:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1½ cups water
- 1 apple, peeled and diced
- ½ cup raisins
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3 strips lemon peel
- ¾ lb. ground poppy seeds
- 6½ cups flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups palm shortening or coconut oil
- 1½ packets yeast (or 3¼ tsp.)
- 1 cup warm milk
- 1 egg
- Add sugar, water, apple, raisins, cinnamon, and lemon peel to a saucepan and cook until syrup.
- Stir in the poppy seeds, a fourth of a pound at a time. Stir until smooth and thick enough to spread. Cool.
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Cube the butter, if using, and cut it into the dry ingredients until it resembles small peas.
- In small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and add to the dry ingredients, and knead until the dough comes together.
- Divide the dough in half and roll it out into a rectangle. Spread the syrup on the dough in an even layer, and roll the dough (not tightly) lengthwise. Beat the egg and brush it on the top of the cake roll. Let the egg wash dry(about 15 minutes) and repeat 3 more times. This counts as the rising time.
- Bake at 375° for about 45 minutes.
- 2 cups pure cane sugar
- 1½ cups water
- 1 organic apple, peeled and diced
- ½ cup raisins
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3 strips organic lemon peel
- ¾ lb. ground poppy seeds
- 6½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ cup pure cane sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups coconut oil
- 3¼ teaspoons yeast
- 1 cup warm organic milk
- 1 egg
- Add sugar, water, apple, raisins, cinnamon, and lemon peel to a saucepan and cook until syrup.
- Stir in the poppy seeds, a fourth of the pound at a time. Stir until smooth and thick enough to spread. Cool.
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Cube the butter, if using, and cut it into the dry ingredients until it resembles small peas.
- In small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and add to the dry ingredients, and knead until the dough comes together.
- Divide the dough in half and roll it out into a rectangle. Spread the syrup on the dough in an even layer, and roll the dough (not tightly) lengthwise. Beat the egg and brush it on the top of the cake roll. Let the egg wash dry(about 15 minutes) and repeat 3 more times. This counts as the rising time.
- Bake at 375° for about 45 minutes.
I love your poppy seed cake. Thank you.
Wow this is fantastic. I may try this with stevia instead of sugar. I always looked for a way to make my favorite bread without using the poppy seed with corn syrup in a can my mother always used. My great grandmother was a Hungarian gyspy lol.