9 of the best Poppy Seed Cake & Pastry recipes to make the most of this protein packed seed

Poppy seeds are dense little nutrition power houses. With 21% protein, they are also very high in calcium and magnesium, so they are a useful addition to cooking. We often fold a handful of black poppy seeds into lemon or orange cakes at the last moment before scooping the batter into a pan, to create a crunchy texture.

100 grams of poppy seeds contains*

  • 21 gm protein

  • 19.5 gm fibre

  • 1438 mg calcium (144% of the daily target)

  • 347 mg magnesium (98% of the daily target)

  • 9.76 mg iron (75% of the daily target)

  • .854 mg B1 (74% of the daily target)

Because the poppy is one of the Birthflowers for this month of August, we thought it would be timely to see how easy it is to incorporate poppy seeds into 10 of the best cake, pancake and pastry recipes, because apart from their nutritional status, they are just downright tasty! 

And of course, all these recipes are dairy-free, egg-free - happily vegan. 


* Nutritional info via


1: Lemon Poppy Seed Blueberry Pancakes

I love Vegan


2: Orange Poppy Seed Doughnuts

My Darling Vegan


3: Vegan Mandarin Poppy Seed Cake

Hazel and Cocoa


4: Hamantaschen Cookies with Poppy seed Filling

Unconventional Baker

5: Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Minimalist Baker



6: Poppy Seed Swirl Bread

Hell Yeah It's Vegan



7: Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

Knead to Cook


8: Polenta Poppy Seed Cake
with Marzipan Icing

Exceedingly Vegan


9: Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Nirvana Cakery