Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread

I've been wanting to make lemon poppyseed cake for ages. It's my all-time favorite cake, and I've never made it. So when I found this recipe on the long list of zucchini bread recipes, I immediately went out and bought a lemon. I stuck it in the door of the refrigerator and promptly forgot about it for about a month. Sadly, when I went to make this, the lemon was a bit dry. So I had to grate the 'zest' on the largest setting of my grater to make anything come off. So, it was more like lemon rind slices than zest, but of course I did not let that deter me.

I've been getting up on Saturday or Sunday morning every week and making one of the zucchini bread recipes for breakfast (although it's usually more like brunch time when we eat it). While I always use whole wheat when baking, this time, I went for the decadent cake I remembered loving so much, so I used only organic white flour. So it was definitely more like dessert than breakfast this time around.

Ingredients 
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2-3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream)
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 teaspoons poppy seeds

 
Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
2. Stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in zucchini and next remaining ingredients. Spoon batter into a buttered loaf pan.
3. Bake at 325° for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (I had to bake it for 1.5 hrs). Cool in pans on rack 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool for 30 minutes more.

This bread was probably my favorite of the zucchini bread recipes I've tried so far. It's way better than the ones I've made before. I'm going to add more poppy seeds next time, but other than that, this was sooo good. We just ate it plain, without frosting or cream cheese or butter. It didn't need anything.