Peanut butter poppy seed cake

This peanut butter poppy seed cake is one of the most delicious vegan poppy seed cakes you’ll ever try. More importantly, it’s perfect for anyone with food intolerances, as it’s made without eggs, dairy or gluten. It’s everything a great poppy seed cake should be – packed with poppy seeds, sweetened with agave syrup, filled with nuts and dried fruit, with no pastry base and finished with a rich chocolate glaze. Here, peanut butter replaces the eggs, binding the poppy seed mixture perfectly. It’s quick to make, tastes just as good as a traditional poppy seed cake, and comes highly recommended!

Note: If you don’t need the recipe to be vegan, replace the agave syrup with a mild, natural honey and the coconut oil with butter. For the chocolate glaze, use double cream instead of coconut milk.

Ingredients for the peanut butter poppy seed cake:

• 400 g poppy seeds
• 200 g smooth peanut butter
• 250 g agave syrup
• 50 g coconut oil, melted
• 100 g walnuts or pecans, chopped
• 50 g raisins
• 70 g candied orange peel
• 2–3 tablespoons ground almonds
• 2 teaspoons almond extract

All the ingredients should be at room temperature.

Cover the poppy seeds with boiling water and leave to cool. Drain well, then pass them twice through a meat grinder fitted with a fine grinding plate. Alternatively, cover the poppy seeds with boiling water, simmer for 20 minutes, drain well, leave to cool, then grind twice. You can also use ready-ground poppy seeds, which are widely available in shops. Simply cover them with boiling water, leave to cool, then squeeze out as much excess water as possible, for example using a clean linen tea towel.

Place the prepared poppy seeds into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix or blend until thoroughly combined. Taste the mixture and add a little more agave syrup if needed.

Line the base of a 23 cm springform tin with baking paper. Spread the mixture evenly into the tin.

Bake at 170°C for 45–50 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely. Pour over the chocolate glaze once it has started to thicken and decorate as desired.

Ingredients for the chocolate glaze:

• 80 g dark chocolate
• 40 ml coconut milk (from a tin)

Place both ingredients in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water and stir until melted and smooth.

Enjoy!