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You are here: Home / Recipes / Plum And Poppy Seed Traybake And Wild Honey & Rye Review

Plum And Poppy Seed Traybake And Wild Honey & Rye Review

September 7, 2017 by hannahhossack 17 Comments

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Plum and poppy seed traybake – A light poppy seed sponge cake with juicy fresh plums and a review of ‘Wild Honey & Rye’ by Ren Behan.

Plum and poppy seed traybake - a light vanilla poppy seed sponge filled with juicy fresh plums (dairy-free)

How much do you know about Polish food? Probably not a huge amount; it seems to be somewhat of a ‘lesser known’ cuisine and beyond pierogi I have very little knowledge of what Polish food actually involves. Ren Behan aims to change that with her new cookbook, ‘Wild Honey & Rye’, which was released today.

Plum and poppy seed traybake - a light vanilla poppy seed sponge filled with juicy fresh plums (dairy-free)

Ren is a food writer and fellow food blogger (blog here) of Polish descent who aims to change perceptions about the cuisine with her cookbook, which focuses on modern Polish recipes and lighter, healthier versions of classics.

The beautifully photographed book is divided into seven chapters which I have listed below, along with some of the recipes that I have earmarked to make from each section to give you an idea of what kinds of recipes you can expect to find there.

Sweet and Savoury Breakfasts: honey and rye loaf, home-infused honey, millet porridge with almond milk, Polish plum butter.

Seasonal and Raw Salads: cucumber, soured cream and dill salad, new potato salad with poppy seeds and chives, buckwheat and beetroot salad with feta, walnuts and honey, homemade fermented dill pickles.

Seasonal Soups and Market-Inspired Sides: forest mushroom soup, sour cucumber soup, apple mashed potatoes, carrots with honey and star anise.

Light Bites and Street Food: pastry rolls with sauerkraut and mushrooms, potato blinis with smoked salmon and soured cream, forest mushrooms with thyme cream on sourdough.

Food For Family and Friends: millet ‘kaszotto’ with wild mushrooms, potato pancakes with mushroom sauce, cabbage parcels with barley and mushroom sauce, pierogi with cheese and potatoes.

High Tea: Sweet Treats and Cakes: pierogi with strawberries, honey and pistachios, Polish apple cake, cherry crumble cake, plum and poppy seed traybake (recipe below!), mini lemon babkas, toffee and cherry cheesecake, Polish spiced Christmas cookies.

Fruit Liqueurs and Flavoured Vodkas: blackberry vodka, spiced honey vodka, Polish plum martini.

As you can see there is a wide range of delicious looking recipes to try, and there is plenty for vegetarians as well as meat eaters. The sweets in particular caught my eye (of course!) and I opted to make the plum and poppy seed traybake.

Plum and poppy seed traybake - a light vanilla poppy seed sponge filled with juicy fresh plums (dairy-free)

Plum and poppy seed traybake - a light vanilla poppy seed sponge filled with juicy fresh plums (dairy-free)

It is a simple cake, easy to make, but absolutely delicious. A light poppy seed sponge is filled with juicy fresh plums and topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.

I made a couple of very minor changes to Ren’s recipe, not because I think it needed them, but because I didn’t have any vegetable oil left that hadn’t been used for frying doughnuts so used olive oil instead, and I upped the quantity of orange zest to that of a whole orange rather than just a teaspoon.

The resulting cake is delicious eaten in large slices with a cup of tea, but is also amazing served warm with custard or ice cream for pudding.

Plum and poppy seed traybake - a light vanilla poppy seed sponge filled with juicy fresh plums (dairy-free)

Plum and Poppy Seed Traybake Recipe:

Plum and poppy seed traybake - a light vanilla poppy seed sponge filled with juicy fresh plums (dairy-free)
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5 from 7 votes

Plum And Poppy Seed Traybake

A light poppy seed sponge cake with juicy fresh plums.
Course Dessert
Cuisine baking
Keyword cake
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 12 people
Author Domestic Gothess

Ingredients

  • 225 g (generous 1 cup) caster sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 240 ml (1 cup) light vegetable or olive oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
  • finely grated zest of 1 orange or lemon
  • 250 g (2 cups) self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3 Tbsp poppy seeds
  • 8-10 ripe plums halved and stones removed
  • 2 Tbsp icing (powdered) sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease and line a 30x23cm/12x9in cake tin.
  • Place the sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk with an electric mixer for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the zest and mix again.
  • Sift together the flour and baking powder and gently fold it in using a metal spoon until it is fully combined. Add the poppy seeds and mix again.
  • Pour the batter into the lined tray and spread it level. Arrange the plum halves on top, cut side down. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, until the cake is firm and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
  • Leave to cool in the tin. Before serving, mix together the icing sugar and cinnamon and sift it over the cake.

Plum and poppy seed traybake - a light vanilla poppy seed sponge filled with juicy fresh plums (dairy-free)

Wild Honey & Rye can be purchased here, and also in major bookshops.

You can read more about Ren’s journey to publishing her debut cookbook here, and if you would like to see some more recipes and reviews of the book then some of my fellow food bloggers have also written posts:

Recipes From A Pantry made the Polish Christmas Cookies

Kitchen Sanctuary made Hunters Stew

Farmersgirl Kitchen made One Pan Polish Breakfast

Foodie Quine made Forest Mushroom Soup

Natural Kitchen Adventures made Potato Pancakes with Mushroom Sauce

Veggie Desserts made Mini Lemon Babkas

Family Friends Food made Apple Pancakes

Heidi Roberts also made the Plum and Poppy Seed Cake

The Hedgecombers made Blackberry Vodka

Tin and Thyme made Curd Cheese, Honey and Walnuts on Toast

Supergolden Bakes made Pierogi

Vikalinka made Blackberry Crumble Bars

I was sent a copy of the book to review but was not paid to write this post and all opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Baking, Cakes, Recipes Tagged With: coffee cake, dairy free, Fruit, olive oil, plums, sheet cake, snack cake, traybake

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Heidi Roberts

    September 7, 2017 at 1:48 pm

    5 stars
    Isn’t that cake delicious! I think this might be a regular on my baking list!!

    Reply
  2. Nicky

    September 7, 2017 at 5:48 pm

    5 stars
    Looks delish Hannah. I could totally see myself eating 4 or 5 pieces 🙂

    Reply
  3. Janice

    September 8, 2017 at 7:49 pm

    5 stars
    The sign of a great cookbook is seeing the recipe come out exactly like the one in the book – result! What a great bake for the autumn season.

    Reply
    • Ren Behan

      September 8, 2017 at 8:22 pm

      5 stars
      It looks perfect, doesn’t it Janice?!

      Reply
  4. Ren Behan

    September 8, 2017 at 8:21 pm

    5 stars
    Wow Hannah the cake looks absolutely perfect! I love your photos, the plums look so lovely and you have the perfect crumb. I’m so happy you liked it. Thank you so much for your kind words about the book and for your thoughts. Thank you for picking out your favourite recipes from each chapter, too.

    Reply
  5. Jane

    September 9, 2017 at 1:51 pm

    Oh yum, that looks just amazing! Need to po this one on my to-do list!
    Jane x

    Reply
  6. Tania Atfield

    September 13, 2017 at 12:48 pm

    5 stars
    This was so inspiring that I have just made this delicious cake and I absolutely loved it, so different from others, much more interesting, next time though I’m going to use more zest, just like you said, it needs more!

    Reply
  7. Margot

    September 28, 2017 at 12:41 pm

    5 stars
    I love everything poppyseeds and your cake looks amazing!!!! I feel I need to go and get some plums right now…

    Reply
  8. Christine

    August 31, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    Is the 12 x 9 inch baking tray an actual cake pan with deep sides or is it shallow like a cookie sheet?

    Reply
  9. Christine

    September 3, 2018 at 10:55 pm

    For the 12 by 9 pan. Is it a deep cake pan or a sheet pan like a jelly roll pan?

    Reply
    • hannahhossack

      September 4, 2018 at 8:58 am

      Hi Christine, I used a deep cake tin; I don’t think a jelly roll pan would be deep enough. I’ve updated the recipe to be more clear.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Hunter's Stew (Bigos) from Wild Honey and Rye - Nicky's Kitchen Sanctuary says:
    September 7, 2017 at 5:48 pm

    […] Plum & Poppy Seed Traybake by Domestic Gothess […]

    Reply
  2. One-Pan Polish Breakfast and a Review of Wild Honey & Rye - Farmersgirl Kitchen says:
    September 8, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    […] Plum and Poppyseed Traybake – Domestic Gothess […]

    Reply
  3. Kavey Eats » Ren’s Polish Honey & Rye Loaf says:
    September 21, 2017 at 4:39 pm

    […] Plum And Poppy Seed Traybake at Domestic Gothess […]

    Reply
  4. Kavey Eats » Pierogi Ruskie | Polish Dumplings with Cheese and Potatoes says:
    September 24, 2017 at 6:30 am

    […] Plum And Poppy Seed Traybake at Domestic Gothess […]

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  5. Buckwheat and Beetroot Salad with Feta, Walnuts and Honey by Ren Behan / Wild Honey & Rye - Cookbook Review » Coffee & Vanilla says:
    September 26, 2017 at 10:43 pm

    […] Review: Wild Honey & Rye (Modern Polish Recipes) by Ren Behan on Heidi Roberts Kitchen Talk Plum And Poppy Seed Traybake And Wild Honey & Rye Review on Domestic Gothess Blackberry Flavoured Vodka on The Hedge Combers Curd Cheese, Honey & […]

    Reply
  6. The Big Foodies Christmas Gift Guide 2017 - Domestic Gothess says:
    September 23, 2018 at 10:15 am

    […] Wild Honey and Rye by Ren Behan – Yet another blogger turned author; Ren is a friend of mine and her lovely book is all about modern Polish recipes. A largely unexplored cuisine in the UK, Ren aims to bring it up to date with modern twists on classic recipes. You can read my full review of the book here. […]

    Reply

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