Lemon loaf

This Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf recipe turned me on because of the lemon syrup you soak into the loaf after it has baked. After it's been sitting for a while, the syrup soaks pretty much uniformly to scent and flavour the loaf. Fun! The first time I made this I used a slightly smaller loaf pan, and there was a tiny bit in the centre that wasn't cooked - it was yummy, but not cooked. I wonder what kind of tea or coffee would work best with this delicacy?

Cake:

1⁄2 cup (4oz/114gr) room temperature butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tbsps poppy seeds

1 tbsp grated lemon rind

1 tsp baking powder

1⁄4 tsp salt

1⁄2 cup milk

Lemon Syrup:

1⁄3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1⁄3 cup lemon juice

1. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, poppy seeds, lemon rind, baking powder and salt ; stir into the butter mixture alternately with milk, making 3 additions of the flour mixture and 2 of milk. Spread in greased 8- x 4-inch (1.5 L) loaf pan.
3. Bake in the centre of a 325°F oven for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean. Set on a cooling rack to rest.
4. Lemon Syrup: In a saucepan, warm together the sugar, lemon rind and juice until the sugar dissolves. With a skewer, pierce the hot loaf in 12 places right to bottom; pour lemon syrup over loaf.
5. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 30 minutes; turn it out onto rack and let it cool completely. Wrap and let it stand for 12 hours before slicing.