Almond Poppy Seed Bread with Lemon Curd Filling

I am excited for this post because it is the Recipe Swap through Christianna's Burwell General Store Blog again with all the lovely food bloggers around the country!  Last month was so much fun seeing how everyone altered the Potato Donut recipe.  So this month we were given a Jelly Cake recipe that we had to alter in some way to make our own.  This is what the original recipe was:

I pondered for weeks on how to put a spin on jelly cake.  So the other day I opened my cabinet full of goodies from PFI and saw the bag of poppy seeds.  Yes.  This was a promising start.  I originally thought of lemon poppy seed.  But I had two reservations with this.  1) What sort of filling could I put in it that would freeze well?  You see, I am multi-tasking here and making this for M's baby shower taking place in a few weeks.  So I want it to be freeze-able.  2) I wanted to take it a step further than traditional lemon poppy seed.

So I consulted with my mom the other morning.  She is the creative baker in the family and always has good ideas.  Lemon curd, she suggested.  Yes.  The next step was completed.  So why not just use a poppy seed bread base and lemon as the filling.  I just needed one more flavor in the bread.  Berry?  No.  May make the bread a weird color.  Just poppy seed?  No.  Too boring.  Almond?  Yes!  Subtle. Simple. A nice perfume for the poppy seeds.

So I opted for making one pan's worth of bread and very carefully sliced it in half after refrigerating over night.  And to my pleasant surprise, when I cut it open, there were little holes that the lemon curd nicely filled in.  But you can also bake the batter in two pans and then just sandwich them together.  Either way will work.  Also feel free to use any type of filling.  Raspberry jam would be colorful and tart.  Whatever you choose, slather on a healthy amount...it's worth it. 

 I am just one of many many other recipe swappers.  So go to Christianna's Blog and check out the jelly cake project!

Almond Poppy Seed Bread with Lemon Curd Filling
Adapted from Gourmet magazine August 1995 recipe on Epicurious.com
Yields 8-12 servings

The original recipe that this came from is actually for a lemon poppy seed bread.  I opted to keep in the lemon zest for some continuity with the lemon curd.  I swapped out the vanilla extract with almond extract and replaced some of the flour with almond meal.  If you are a poppy seed lover and need a few more polka dots in your bread, by all means tip the bag a little more than two tablespoon's worth.

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp almond meal (ground almonds)
1 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter, unsalted
1 cup milk (I used 2%, but any kind will do)
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 large egg
Sliced almonds for sprinkling on top
1 jar lemon curd


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare the baking pan (either a 9'' round springform or 9x9'' square) by buttering and lightly flouring the inside.  Shake out all the excess flour.  Set aside for later use.

In a medium bowl, combine the almond meal, flour, sugar, cornstarch, poppy seeds, baking powder and salt.  Cut the butter into small little cubes and incorporate into the dry ingredients, using your hands works best.  In a separate small bowl, whisk together the milk, lemon zest, almond extract and egg.

Slowly pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl.  Mix just until fully blended.  Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish.  Sprinkle with the sliced almonds.  Loosely cover with a piece of foil.

Bake for 30 minutes with foil so the almonds don't burn.  Pull off the foil after 30 minutes and bake for another 5-10 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool fully on a wire rack.  Pop out of the baking dish and wrap in plastic wrap on a plate.  Refrigerating for at least an hour will help make the cross-sectional cutting much easier.  Overnight is fine too, that is what I did.

Unwrap the bread, and with a serrated bread knife, slowly and carefully slice the bread in half so you can put a layer of lemon curd in the middle.  Slather generously.  Put the top of bread back on, and slice into 8 (or more) triangles.  Serve with coffee and fruit.