Celebrating with Friends – an Important Tradition

I am fortunate to have several groups of friends that take the time to celebrate each other’s birthdays. My dear friend, Ally, is one who often does the cooking and entertaining. She is a warm and thoughtful host as well as an artistic chef. As she is fond of experimenting, she designed this cake for our friend, Frieda. Easy to make, delicious, moist, and not too heavy or rich, this one is a definite winner. When reproducing it, the only thing I did differently was soak the poppy seeds overnight in the lemon juice, in the belief that slightly swollen, they wouldn’t stick to my teeth. Research about soaking provides two different answers: either they become more digestible or the soaking helps to extract the opium. I must confess I sleep very well after eating this cake…hmmm…

Poppy Seed Angel Food

Ally writes: (I am so in love with poppy-seed I really do think of it as "food for angels" rather than mere cake
so I left off the word 'cake'). This is embarrassingly easy to make. Unless of course you are one of those
"I make everything from scratch" people and don't use the angel food cake mix.
The recipe:

1 package of angel food cake mix
1 1/8 cup water
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) lemon juice
2 to 3 tsp grated lemon rind and 1 tsp for garnishing cake later
Mix according to package directions. Lastly, g-e-n-t-l-y stir in:

3/4 to 1 cup of poppy-seed

lemon curd - set aside for topping

Bake according to package directions, which for
Duncan Hines was 350 degrees for 38 to 48 minutes. I found
38 minutes to be perfect so do check early. After the cake had cooled by
hanging upside down on a bottle as directed, I spread just the thinnest layer
of lemon curd on the top and down the tube of the cake (to keep it moist). This
is probably an unnecessary step but I wasn't sure when the cake was going to be
eaten. Lastly, I sprinkled about a teaspoonful of grated lemon rind on top to add
a little colour. Enjoy.
P.S. If you are not fond of this does it mean you are not an angel?

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