Balkan Poppy Seed Cherry Squares 🍒✨

Description

Balkan Poppy Seed Cherry Squares are soft lenten cake bars made with ground poppy seeds, sour cherries, sparkling water, oil, lemon zest, and a light dusting of powdered sugar. They are dark, moist, fruity, simple, and deeply nostalgic, with the old-style Balkan flavor of poppy seed cake and juicy cherries in every square.
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Hook ✨
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Ground poppy seeds, sour cherries, sparkling water, lemon zest, and powdered sugar make these Balkan cake squares soft, dark, moist, and beautifully homemade. 🍒

Ingredients

• Cake batter 🍰
• ‌
• 🌾 260 g all-purpose flour (2 cups / 9.2 oz)
• 🌑 160 g ground poppy seeds (1½ cups / 5.6 oz)
• 🍬 180 g sugar (¾ cup + 2 tbsp / 6.3 oz)
• 🥄 12 g baking powder (1 tbsp / 0.4 oz)
• 🧂 1 tiny pinch fine sea salt
• 🍋 6 g lemon zest (2 tbsp / 0.2 oz)
• 💧 300 ml sparkling water (1¼ cups / 10 fl oz)
• 🫒 120 ml sunflower oil or neutral oil (½ cup / 4 fl oz)
• 🌿 5 ml vanilla extract (1 tsp / 0.17 fl oz)
• 🍋 20 ml lemon juice (1 tbsp + 1 tsp / 0.7 fl oz)
• ‌
• Cherry layer 🍒
• ‌
• 🍒 300 g pitted sour cherries, fresh, frozen, or jarred and well drained (2 cups / 10.6 oz)
• 🌾 12 g all-purpose flour, for coating cherries (1 tbsp / 0.4 oz)
• 🍬 15 g sugar, optional if cherries are very tart (1 tbsp / 0.5 oz)
• ‌
• To finish ✨
• ‌
• 🍬 20 g powdered sugar (¼ cup / 0.7 oz)
• 🍒 80 g sour cherries for serving, optional (½ cup / 2.8 oz)
• ☕ Black coffee or tea, optional for serving

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Prepare the pan 🍰
2. ‌
3. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 22 × 22 cm square pan (9 × 9 in) with baking paper and lightly brush the sides with oil.
4. ‌
5. 2️⃣ Mix the dry ingredients 🌑
6. ‌
7. In a large bowl, whisk flour, ground poppy seeds, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest for 30 sec, until the poppy seeds are evenly spread through the flour.
8. ‌
9. 3️⃣ Add the wet ingredients 💧
10. ‌
11. Pour in sparkling water, oil, vanilla, and lemon juice. Stir gently for 45 sec, just until the batter becomes dark, speckled, and smooth. Do not overmix.
12. ‌
13. 4️⃣ Prepare the cherries 🍒
14. ‌
15. Pat the sour cherries dry. Toss them with 12 g flour (1 tbsp / 0.4 oz) and optional sugar. This helps keep the cherries suspended in the cake instead of sinking to the bottom.
16. ‌
17. 5️⃣ Fold and spread ✨
18. ‌
19. Fold the cherries into the batter with 5–6 gentle turns. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
20. ‌
21. 6️⃣ Bake the cake 🔥
22. ‌
23. Bake for 34 min, until the top is set, slightly cracked, and a toothpick comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Do not overbake, because the squares should stay soft.
24. ‌
25. 7️⃣ Cool before cutting 🛋
26. ‌
27. Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 min, then lift it out and cool for another 25 min. Cut into 12 clean squares with a sharp knife.
28. ‌
29. 8️⃣ Finish and serve 🍒
30. ‌
31. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving. Serve with sour cherries, black coffee, or tea.

Total Time

⏱ Prep: 14 min
🔥 Cook/Bake: 34 min
🛋 Rest: 45 min
⏰ Total: 93 min

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