Moist poppy seed bread pudding base covered with a thin layer of poppy seed filling and a rich vanilla cream on the top. The perfect cake for Christmas if you ask me.
Oh my … a post on the blog … what is going on? I know the last post was almost 2 months ago… but at this point, I decided I am not going to apologize (even though I feel terrible abouth that I could not post regularly lately) because I just have to accept the fact that right now in my final year I have other priorities. And I had and still have lots of things going on. I am going to post a 2018 review and I’ll explain as much as I can.
But for now… I can not believe Christmas is almost in a week!!!!!!! What is going on? Do you guys remember that last year I did 12 days of Christmas on the blog? I loved sharing Christmasy recipes and my stories throughout December. This year I am happy that I can share one or two recipes before Christmas :D.
So let’s talk about this amazing cake that would be a delicious showstopper on any Christmas table. I wrote about the traditional Hungarian dessert called poppy seed bread pudding in my Poppy Seed Bread Pudding Ice Cream recipe. I have also mentioned that my family, especially my father is obsessed with anything poppy seed related. I try to create something new for his birthdays every year but to be honest it can be quite challenging. A few years ago I made a cake similar to this one but that was a huge disaster, I mean the flavor was amazing but it looked terrible. Basically, we had to eat it with spoons… However, do not worry! This is a completely different recipe.
The base is almost the same as a basic poppy seed bread pudding except it has egg yolks in it so it can hold its shape once baked. The key ingredient when baking bread pudding is the day-old „bread”. In Hungary, we use a kind of crescent roll but usually in English recipes brioche bread is used.
The vanilla cream is super simple since I used instant vanilla pudding mix as the base. I know it is not as good as a proper homemade pastry cream but in this situation, I think it is not a huge crime. I also made thin a poppy seed filling to give the cake an extra flavor.
For decoration (and also because I do not like throwing away egg whites) I baked some meringues. I have always had a love-hate relationship with meringues. I do not really like the taste of them, they are just too plain. Also sometimes they turn out good but sometimes they are a disaster. So I decided to do some serious research. My final choice was Marina’s method from the Let the baking begin blog, since her meringues always look amazing. And finally, I can say that my meringues also turned out perfect! So check her recipe if you want to be a meringue pro too!
I know this cake can sound a bit complicated but actually, it is a pretty quick and easy cake to bake even for beginners. And at the end, you get a not too sweet but super creamy and dreamy cake.
Poppy Seed Bread Pudding Cake
Prep Time: 30 min. Baking Time: 40 minutes (+meringues) Total Time: 2 hours Portions: 8 slices
Ingredients:
Bread Pudding:
10 crescent rolls or brioche bread (around 400g of your choice of bread)
1 litre milk
3 egg yolks
100 g butter
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or 1 and ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
100 g granulated sugars
150 g grounded poppy seed
the zest of one lemon
Poppy Seed Filling:
100 g grounded poppy seed
50 g granulated sugar
125 ml milk
the zest of a half lemon
½ teaspoons rum extract
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Vanilla Cream:
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix (40g)
80 g granulated sugar
400 ml milk
100 g butter
Meringue:
3 egg whites
¾ cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
Directions:
Bread Pudding:
Preheat your oven to 340 F or 170 C. Line the bottom of a 9 inch or 24 cm round cake pan with a removable bottom.
Cut up your bread into 1 inch cubes or slices add them into a large bowl.
Melt the butter and warm up the milk in a saucepan.
Whisk in the egg yolks, vanilla sugar or vanilla extract and the granulated sugar.
Let it thicken a bit while constantly stirring for 5 minutes.
Pour the mixture over the bread and mix in the poppy seeds and lemon zest. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Do not worry, it will collapse a lot.
Spread the mixture in the baking pan evenly and bake it for 20-30 minutes or until the top is set and it is not too mushy anymore.
Poppy Seed Filling:
Put all of your filling ingredients into a medium saucepan and heat it on a medium-low heat just until all the sugar is dissolved. Stir it while you cook it.
When you take your base out of the oven spread the filling on the top of it.
Put it back in the oven for 10 minutes. Then let it cool down completely.
Vanilla Cream:
In a medium-sized saucepan add your pudding mix, milk, and sugar.
Start cooking it while constantly stirring. Make sure you keep an eye on it because I will start thickening really quickly.
Once it is completely thickened take it off the heat and let it cool down completely.
When it is cold mix in the butter with an electric whisk.
Spread it on top of your poppy seed filling.
Meringue:
Preheat your oven to 225 F or 110 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add the egg whites, the sugar, and the salt into a really clean and completely grease-free bowl. ( I like to clean my bowl with a paper towel and a few drops of lemon juice right before adding the whites.) Make sure your egg whites do not have any bits of the yolk in it.
Whip it on high speed for 15 minutes using a standing mixer or even longer with a handheld mixer. It is good when it really shiny and stiff.
Spread little blobs with a spoon on the baking sheet or you can use a piping bag to pipe nice shapes.
Bake them for anywhere between 45 minutes to 2 hours it depends on the size of your meringues. They are good when you can easily remove them from the paper and they are completely dry. Do not take them out from the oven, let them cool down in it until the oven cools down too.
Decorate the cake with the meringues only before serving it, so the meringues won't get soggy from the moisture of the cake.
