Lemon Poppy Seed Roulade for Passover
This is a beautiful lemon sponge cake made with Matzo Cake Meal, topped with Poppy Seed Buttercream, rolled into a spiral, and topped with a Limecello Poppy Seed Glaze. It is delicious and a cake worthy of your Passover table. The fluffy cake is lightly soaked with a lemon syrup, a classic combination, but made even better with the Matzo Cake Meal, which adds a toasty flavor. It makes me wonder why I don’t bake with it all year round.
Ingredients
Matzo Sponge
- 3/4 cup (110g) Matzo Cake Meal Not to be confused with matzo meal
- 1/3 cup (70g) Potato Starch Not to be confused with potato flour
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups (275g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
Lemon Syrup
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
Limoncello Poppy Seed Buttercream
- 1/4 cup (35g) poppy seeds
- 2 Tbsp. Lyles Golden Syrup or corn syrup
- 1 cup (224g) unsalted butter or non-dairy butter substitute, at room temperature
- 4 cups (480g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 1/4 cup limoncello more to make it soft enough to spread easily
Limoncello Glaze (optional)
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 lemon zested
- 2 to 4 Tbsp limoncello
Instructions
Make the Sponge
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a baking sheet with greased parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the matzo cake meal, potato starch and salt together, set aside.
- In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the eggs and sugar on high speed, for about 8 minutes. The eggs should be very light in color and a thick foam. Mix in the vanilla and zest.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift 1/3 of the dry ingredients over the egg foam and use the whisk attachment or a rubber spatula to fold the flour into the foam by hand. Repeat the sifting and folding with the next 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Repeat with the final 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly with an offset spatula.
- Bake the cake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until golden and set when tested with a cake tester.
- While the cake is baking, dust a large, clean kitchen towel generously with confectioners’ sugar.
- As soon as the cake is done, run a knife around the edges and invert onto the sugar dusted kitchen towel. Peel off the parchment paper and lay it back on to the cake, then roll the cake, starting at the short end, using the towel, into a log. Allow to cool completely before filling.
Make the Soaking Syrup
- In a small sauce pot, heat the sugar and water over medium heat until the sugar has fully dissolved. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon zest and allow the syrup to cool.
Make the Buttercream
- In a small bowl, combine the poppy seeds and Lyle’s syrup. Allow to sit for about 15 minutes to soften the poppy seeds.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-low speed, until smooth. Scrape the bowl and paddle attachment.
- Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated and smooth.
- Add the poppy seed mixture, lemon zest and limoncello. Mix until smooth and quite soft. If the buttercream is still stiff, add more limoncello or cream (you can use a non-dairy creamer to keep it parve).
Assemble the Cake
- Gently unroll the cooled cake. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush with the lemon syrup. Pro Tip: You want to dab the syrup on, but don't overly saturate the cake or it will be soggy.
- Spread the poppy seed buttercream over the soaked cake.
- Starting at the short end, re-roll the cake into a tight log. Dust with confectioners’ sugar or make the glaze below.
Make the Glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, zest and limoncello into a smooth pourable glaze. Pour over the top of the cake.
- Store the cake in the refrigerator. Once the icing is set up you can cover it with plastic wrap.
- Serve with sorbet or lemon curd and berries.