Polish Poppy Seed Cake
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
A modified version of a traditional Polish dessert - free of gluten, dairy, eggs, and grains. To make it nut free, substitute almonds with tigernuts.
Author:
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups poppy seeds
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • 2 ripe bananas, chopped
  • ⅓ cup arrowroot flour
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • ½ teaspoon orange extract
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ cup sweetened cranberries, chopped
  • ¾ cup sweet sour cherries; fresh, frozen (if frozen, thaw and drain to measure ¾ cup), dried (if dried, rehydrate in hot water for 15 minutes), roughly chopped
  • ½ cup chopped 70% (or higher) dark chocolate
  • 3 tablespoons almond meal or flour (or, freshly grind a handful of almonds), or tigernut flour
  • 1 tablespoon brown, cane or coconut sugar
  • ½ teaspoon ground Ceylon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons almond slivers, roasted
How To Make
  1. Place the poppy seeds in a heavy-bottomed medium pan, add the boiling water, cover and simmer for 30 minutes on medium high heat. If any water remains, continue simmering until all water evaporates.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  3. Transfer the poppy seeds to a high speed blender and whizz on high for about 3 minutes, or until the poppy seeds become a well blended mixture. Stop the blender and use a spatula to scrapes the sides and restart.
  4. To the blender, add the bananas, arrowroot flour, coconut oil, lemon juice, all the extracts and salt. Whizz for another minute, or until well combined.
  5. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and fold in the cranberries, cherries, chocolate and almond meal. Taste and if the mixture needs more sweetness, mix in a tablespoon of maple syrup or honey at that time. If the bananes were ripe, the cake should be sweet enough.
  6. Grease the springform and pour the mixture and distribute it evenly with a spatula.
  7. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.
  8. Loosen sides from springform with a knife and remove the rim. Cool on a wire rack for at least 4 hours. The cake will be soft but will harden as it cools.
  9. Grind sugar and cinnamon in a coffee grinder. Use a fine sieve to dust the cake with the sugar cinnamon mixture. Sprinkle with almond slivers.
Notes
Equipment:
High-speed food blender (like Vitamix, Blendtec or Nutribullet)
9-inch springform
Recipe by HormonesBalance.com at https://hormonesbalance.com/recipes/polish-poppy-seed-cake/