Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf
My Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Cake is perfect for breakfast or dessert with some fresh berries or a smear of butter. It whips up in minutes and stores well for a week! All in all, it is a great healthy choice for your lemon poppy seed craving! This easy lemon loaf recipe is low carb, keto, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.
This time of year I love all things lemon. They taste fresh and springy when the weather starts to warm up. September and October are all about cinnamon and pumpkin but in May and June, lemon is my fave. A healthy lemon loaf cake with fresh berries is my top choice right about now.
Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Cake – Low Carb, Keto, Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, THM S
If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my photo woefully sharing about needing to taste test this recipe. The woeful portion was in jest, obviously. Who wouldn’t want a job that requires eating cake? I put a nice slice of this healthy lemon poppy seed cake on top of a pile of sliced strawberries, topped with whipped cream, and then decided to drizzle a little white wine on top. It was perfection. The wine soaked into the Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Cake just enough to give it a zing and highlight the flavor of the strawberries. I probably put one or two tablespoons of wine on it. It didn’t take much.
How to make lemon poppy seed cake: Zest and juice a lemon, add that and some almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, butter, cottage cheese, eggs, and sweetener to the food processor. Pulse. Add poppy seeds. Bake. Eat.
Using cottage cheese in this healthy lemon poppy seed cake is my trick to a moist and tender loaf cake. It adds protein and makes this just as good of a breakfast as a dessert. I’m getting this post ready to go live a week after baking this and I’m eating a piece for breakfast with some yogurt and thawed frozen raspberries on top. It tastes just as good now as it did fresh from the oven!
The poppy seeds really do give this poppy seed cake a special touch. But if you prefer you can omit them and make a plain ole lemon loaf. Or add some blueberries for a pop of color. I love the combination of lemon and blueberries.
Next time I make baked goods to give as gifts I want to make mini loaves of this and wrap them in parchment and tie with twine. They are so cute this way. Add in a basket of freshly picked berries and a crock of butter for a really nice hostess gift!
This Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Cake is excellent plain or with a pat of butter. I’m sure this would work as muffins if you’d prefer individual servings for grab-and-go breakfasts or just less clean up from using paper liners. The less clean up idea may trump a pretty sliceable loaf the next time I make this.
This Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Cake keeps well in the fridge for up to a week so bake one for yourself and enjoy.
Love lemon? Try these next:
Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Crumb Bars
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Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Cake
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup cottage cheese
- 4 tbsp butter softened
- 1/2 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 4 eggs
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp poppy seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease a standard loaf pan well with cooking spray.
- Combine the cottage cheese, butter, and sweetener in the food processor. Pulse until smooth. Add the eggs, lemon juice, flours, baking powder, and zest. Pulse until well combined. Add the poppy seeds and pulse until they are evenly distributed in the batter. Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 55-65 min or until the center feels firm when lightly pressed and the edges are deep golden brown.
- Cool completely to make it easier to remove from the pan. Alternatively, you can line the loaf pan with parchment paper.
y 14 yr old daughter has had Type 1 diabetes for 2 years, and we hadn’t even attempted a keto version of our favorite Christmas morning poppy seed bread. She asked this year if one existed, and I found yours while searching.
I added almond extract, vanilla and butter extract, like in our traditional recipe, and made a lemon juice/THM sweet blend glaze.
She was so happy with our test loaf…said it was just perfect, exactly what she’d hoped for. So thank you!!!! It is a gift to have a keto version of a family favorite!!
I made this last night as a layer cake for Mother’s Day. I made 1.5x the recipe and it was perfect for three 6” rounds, baked for 30 minutes. I used blueberry compote for the filling and a cream cheese icing to frost it. I just recently started keto but love to bake and I’m glad I don’t have to give it up! My kids even asked for seconds!
What is the ratio for trim healthy mama gentle sweet to lakanto monk fruit?
My sweetener and THM Gentle Sweet are twice as sweet as sugar. Lakanto is 1:1 for sugar. I’d suggest using 1.5 times the amount listed.
Can you use ghee instead of the butter?
Yes, ghee should work.
Hey, if there any substitute to coconut flour?
All almond flour should work. You will need to increase the amount since coconut is drier.
What a lovely little recipe! I halved the recipe and used a mini loaf tin, substituting full fat Greek yogurt for the cottage cheese (which I didn’t have) and used 1/2 cup Erythritol plus 1/8 tsp each of Stevia powder and monk fruit sweetener. I didn’t change anything else but reduced the baking time by about 10 minutes and it was perfect, even without a glaze. As others have mentioned, it is wonderfully moist with a fantastic crumb, which is not easy to achieve with a keto recipe! Thank you so much for this, you made my weekend 🙂
Thank you for the nice comment! I really appreciate when readers take the time to come back and review my recipes 🙂