• Preheat the oven to 350 F and place a rack in the center of the oven.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake Batter

• Grind the poppyseeds and place in a small mixing bowl.
• In a large bowl, add in the 200 grams of granulated sugar and the zest of two lemons. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers until fully incorporated. The sugar will begin to clump from the oils.
• Whisk in the salt.
• Crack all three eggs into the bowl and whisk for about two minutes until light and fluffy.
• Add in the yogurt and whisk again.
• Finally pour in the olive oil and vanilla extract and whisk once more until fully combined.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, and baking powder into the wet ingredients. Use a flat rubber spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. It will still look clumpy from the bubbles.
• Pour 400 grams of the batter into the bowl with the poppyseeds and carefully fold the poppyseeds into the batter.
• Grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan with a baking spray that uses flour or parchment paper. *If using this USA loaf pan that I love, you don't need to line the pan.
• Alternate pouring half of the plain lemon batter and half of the poppyseed batter into the prepared loaf pan. Continue until all of the batter is used.

Bake, Soak, and Sugar Coat

• Flatten out the batters with the rubber spatula and then bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes have passed, rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
• Check to see if the cake is done by inserting a toothpick into the center and seeing if it comes out clean. If batter is stuck to the toothpick, bake for another 5 minutes.
• Once baked, take the pan out of the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool.
• Make the lemon syrup while the cake cools. Squeeze the juice of three lemons into a large microwave safe bowl or measuring cup. Add in 2/3 the weight of the lemon juice in granulated sugar. For me it was about 180 grams of lemon juice so I did 120 grams of granulated sugar.
• Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring the mixture in between until all of the sugar has dissolved.
• Pour 150 grams of the syrup into a separate cup to reserve for the lemon yogurt whipped cream.
• Once the cake has cooled for 15 minutes, take it out of the pan. Place it directly on a wire rack with a baking sheet underneath. Flip the cake upside down and brush the bottom with about 1/4 of the simple syrup.
• Brush both sides of the cake with about 1/4 of the syrup as well.
• Flip the cake back right side up and poke about 25 holes in the top with a toothpick or skewer. Pour/brush the remaining lemon syrup onto the top of the cake. Poking holes is semi-optional because you will see them after the fact. But it allows more of the lemon to go into the cake and once sliced, no one will see the holes.
• Leave the cake to sit for about 10 minutes to let it cool further and the syrup to become tacky.
• Pour 50 grams of sugar onto a large plate or additional baking sheet. Roll the bottom and long sides of the loaf cake in the sugar so they are fully coated.
• Transfer the cake back onto the wire rack and pour about 50 more grams of sugar over the top of the cake.
• Leave it to cool completely before slicing and serving with the whipped cream.

Lemon Yogurt Whipped Cream

• In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add in the cold heavy cream. Whip on medium high speed until soft peaks form.
• Add in the greek yogurt, and whip until stiff. It should firm up quickly if using full fat greek yogurt.
• Finally, pour in about 2/3 of the lemon syrup that was set aside. Whisk to combine and then taste to see if you want to add in the rest of the syrup.
• Serve immediately with the cake or place in an airtight container in the fridge to firm up slightly. If left to sit in the fridge for a few days, some of the water from the yogurt will separate and sink to the bottom which is totally fine. You can just scoop the extra creamy, cream off the top and pour off the extra liquid!
• Optionally drizzle the cake slices with olive oil after topping with the lemon and yogurt whipped cream.