Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups of butter
• 2 cups ground poppy seeds
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 5 eggs separated
• 2 tsps milk
• 2 tsps Brandy
• ¾ cup flour/cornstarch (half flour/half cornstarch)
• 1 tsp baking powder

Method

• Melt the butter and add sugar, poppy seeds, milk and brandy and egg yolks and mix thoroughly
• Mix the flour, corn starch and baking powder together.
• Add the flour mixture to the liquid and mix well.
• Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold in to flour mixture
• Pour into buttered 8 inch square pan and sprinkle the top with grated chocolate.

Bake 10 minutes at 425, 10 more minutes at 375 and a final ten minutes at 325. I actually think you can play with the timing a bit and be sure your baking powder is no more than a year old. Baking powder is the key to rising and if it is a year old it loses its ability. I find cakes like this need to be watched and don’t hesitate to leave it in longer if you need to. That way the centre of the cake will be cooked through.