Poppy seed

Nutty crunch and a faint bitterness that stops the cake tasting like squash.

On the crust it toasts; in the crumb it stays raw. Both are correct.

The seed is dry to the point of dusty. Butter is what makes it swallowable.

Ground with sugar it turns to a black paste that tastes of nut, not seed.

Floral sugar meets a faintly floral seed and covers the bitter tail.

Two bitter fats, two separate logs. Hungary bakes both and serves them side by side.

Zest oil dissolves into seed oil; juice would just make the filling wet.

Sharp fruit through grey paste — the acid is what stops it reading as mud.

Buttered noodles, cabbage, poppy. Bitterness where sugar would be lazy.

Soak the ground seed in it overnight; the alcohol pulls out aroma water cannot.

Cocoa butter carries the bitterness and the grit reads as deliberate texture.