Russian poppy seed cake...

Traditionally, Russian cakes or tortes are quite sweet, heavy and rich. Cream, butter, chocolate and layers upon layers of sugary pastry make up some of the most famous Russian cakes. Fruit is is reserved for pies, tarts, pastry's, jams, conserves and compotes. These are more simple dishes, likely stemming from peasant roots leaving the fancier ones for the aristocrats. The poppy seed cake has been a family favourite since I can remember.

I have a very special cousin called Ilana, whom I consider to be kindred spirits with and lucky to be born into the same family. It seems to me we've walked many life times together and hopefully for many more. She just recently turned 21... A big late bloggie shout-out to her! She is a fan of Russian cuisine and vegetarian cooking, so I decided to make her a Russian inspired cake using poppy seed, lemon and raspberries and a couple other traditionally used extras such as yoghurt and honey.




Ilana (brunette) and I (brown)

The poppy plant's species name, somniferum, means 'sleep inducing'. Remember that scene in the Wizard of Oz?? They all fell asleep in the poppy field. Judy Garland was so cute in this film...

Until she grew up and Hollywood ruined her...in fact, narcotics played a big role in her parting this Earth. Too much poppy love for her, or maybe she just needed to get to the real source! I have digressed...sorry...

Poppy seeds are from the poppy flower and have been used for thousands of years in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and India for culinary and medicinal purposes (as far back as Egypt), also for the opium drug trade. The humble poppy seed in the 19th century, caused opium wars where China lost control of the trade. The seeds are tiny and come in either blue/ grey, black and white colour and have a nutty aroma and taste. The blue and black seeds are seeds are used in European cooking and the white in Indian, Middle Eastern and Asian. Morphine, heroin and codeine are derived from the Eastern variety.
So, I looked through all my Russian cook books and the recipes looked quite heavily laden with eggs, dairy, wheat and refined sugar. Instead I'll be aiming to keep the cake lighter, so no one falls asleep digesting it and so the true wholesome ingredients can shine for themselves.

Russian poppy seed cake... from the magical land of Oz

This cake sat proudly next to my sisters awesome hummingbird one. Would you believe it had no white sugar, butter, white flour, or eggs? Besides turning out just a pinch dry, watch the clock and keep the temperature low and a good idea is to drizzle a honey, lemon before the glaze. Or add 2 tablespoons of coconut oil or butter although poppy seeds create their own fats.

Ingredients...
2 cups of buckwheat flour
3/4 cup of black poppy seeds
1 cup plain or vanilla yoghurt (low or full fat, organic, biodynamic)
the juice and rind of 1/2 lemon
1 tbs lemon powder
3/4 cup of runny honey
a pinch of Himalayan or Celtic salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder

Method...
1. Mix the poppy seeds, honey, vanilla extract and yoghurt and leave overnight in a cool place or for 1 to 2 hours, enough for the poppy seeds to expand with liquid. If you don't do this step the poppy seeds will burst while baking.

2. Sift the buckwheat flour into a mixer (or by hand is fine), cinnamon, lemon powder, baking powder and salt. Then add the poppy seed mixture slowly to mix thoroughly into a batter.
3. Add the lemon juice and lemon rind.
4. Pour mixture into a lined and greased circular baking pan or spring form pan and bake at 150 degrees Celsius or 302 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 to 35 minutes or until you can poke a wooden skewer in the centre of the cake and it comes out clean. I think it's OK to have a little stickiness but that's me!
5. Let the cake cool before taking it out of the pan or putting any icing on.

The macadamia icing from the lemon short bread cookies would go perfectly here. Or because I can, I'll do something a bit different. Variety is the spice of life after all...

Raspberry "vareniye" glaze...
"Vareniye" is the Russian word for fruit conserve, a type of jam to sweeten cookies, cakes, bread and to sweeten tea. The traditional recipe calls for massive amounts of white sugar but because I want to avoid my pancreas from spontaneous combustion I'm using organic coconut sugar and much less than what is necessary for a conserve. Also, I've added agar agar, a Japanese seaweed extract to add more body to the glaze and allows you to use less sugar.

Ingredients...
4 cups raspberry's
2 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp agar agar
1/8 cup water
rind of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method...
1. In a saucepan pour the coconut sugar over the raspberries and let sit for 12 hours. The sugar will pull the moisture out of the berries, let the berries collapse by themselves.
***This is the slow method, the fast method is to whizz the berries and sugar in a food processor until dissolved but life is already so fast paced, why make it any faster???
2. Dissolve the agar agar in the water over the stove and put aside. The water will become thicker when it has dissolved.
3. Begin to heat the raspberries/ sugar mix over the lowest heat, stir in the agar agar and vanilla and continue for around 10 minutes or until it has combined well and there is no excess liquid. Don't "cook" the berries, let them stay fresh.
4. Take off the heat, use a handheld blender to smooth it out (if desired) then pour the glaze into a glass jar or pour onto the cake when you're ready.
*** If you have left overs, keep it in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Glazing the cake...
The cake should be cooled off by now, or at least only mild warm. Take it out the pan and pour the glaze evenly on top of the cake and let it drip down how it wants to, the law of physics has it's own appreciation for art and I personally like things a little "un done". Put it aside in a cool place to set.

An hour or two after eating this you'll feel quite mellow, the poppy effect will give you a good nights rest... and maybe a strange dream or two. I hope this one inspires you to do something a little different, maybe bend the cultural rules occasionally. Guilt-free dessert rule!

Love

Ulyana...