Orange Poppy Seed Syrup Cake

Hi everyone 🙂 I hope you are all good and are starting to think about getting organised for Christmas. Are you one of those crazy people who thrive on stress and leave all of their shopping until Christmas Eve, spending an hour driving around town just to find a park, lol! Or like me and start buying Christmas Club vouchers each week as soon as Christmas is over preparing for the next one in a years time! haha……yes I am THAT boring! I always work through Christmas and New Years with only Christmas day off, so even if I wanted to be that ‘leave everything until the last second’ crazed shopper, it’s simply not possible, so I make sure I’m super organised! So before I embark on baking meringues and get all strawberry obsessed I would like to share this recipe with you.

This delicious Orange Poppy Seed Syrup Cake contains ground almonds, orange zest and juice, black poppy seeds and has an orange sugar syrup poured into it while it’s still warm from the oven. It’s sweet, tender and moist with a slightly nutty flavour from the ground almonds and the seeds, the seeds also give it a delightful, slightly gritty texture. The recipe is one I’ve adapted from a very old Wpman’s Weekly recipe book, called ‘Café Cakes’.

GEEKY STUFF – Poppy seeds are an oil seed that come from the Opium Poppy. They are ancient and have been used for civilisations, grown for their ornamental, medicinal and culinary values. They were used in folk remedies as a sedative to help with sleeping problems (they put Dorothy to sleep in ‘The Wizard of Oz’) and also in aiding with fertility (using poppy seed oil). They were used in spells….carrying a few in your pocket or purse could bring you good luck with money (*Note to self – less in cake, more in purse!) and also were thought to provide magical powers of invisibility …..teehee 🙂 must tell Master 9, he will probably start eating them by the handful! There are black poppy seeds (slate blue really or also known as Dutch blue as they are grown a lot in Holland) which are used a lot in European cooking and baking and there are also white poppy seeds that are used mainly in Middle-Eastern cuisine. They are good for you as they contain B-Complex vitimans and many minerals. Poppy seeds are so tiny that It takes 3,300 poppy seeds to make up a gram, and between 1 and 2 million (whoa!) seeds to make up to 450 grams (1 pound).

INGREDIENTS

CAKE
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup poppy seeds
280 grams butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups castor sugar
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 medium-sized eggs
2 1/2 cups standard flour (loosely packed)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup ground almonds
3/4 cup orange juice

ORANGE SUGAR SYRUP
3/4 cup castor sugar
3/4 cup orange juice

ORANGE GLAZE
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoons of orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoon boiling water
1 teaspoon orange zest

Tin – For this cake you will need a 10 cm D x 23 cm W ring tin or a 23 cm W x 7 cm D round tin.

WALKTHROUGH

Cake

So to get started put the milk and poppy seeds together in a little bowl to soak (which softens them a bit) while you make the cake.

Next position a oven rack so that the top of your cake tin will be around the centre of the oven and preheat it to 150 degrees – fan-bake oven or 180 degrees – conventional oven, on bake.

Now in a medium-sized bowl beat the softened butter, sugar and orange zest for around five minutes, until creamy and light.  Then beat in the eggs, one at a time.

When the eggs are beaten in well, add the flour, ground almonds and baking powder and on a low speed beat it in until it is nearly all mixed together.

Then add the orange juice and the poppy seed mixture. Continue beating on low until everything is just combined, being careful not to over-mix so you have a nice light, textured cake.

Next spray a ring tin with non-stick cooking spray and spoon the cake batter evenly into it.

Bake for 50 minutes (or 1 hour & 20 minutes for the 23 cm round tin) or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Orange Sugar Syrup

Now, it’s time to make your orange sugar syrup. Place the sugar and the orange juice in a small saucepan and place on a medium heat. Stirring often, bring it to the boil and then turn the heat down to medium/low and leave, gently simmering ( a soft boil) for ten minutes.

Next, poke holes into the cake with a skewer (which helps the sugar syrup soak in) and then carefully spoon the hot syrup all over the top of the cake until it has all gone. Don’t worry if some pools around the edges, it will soak in.

Leave your cake in the tin until it’s cool and then turn it out onto the plate you want to serve it on…..and then it’s time to glaze it!

Orange Glaze

Place all of the glaze ingredients into a small bowl and stir them together until the glaze is smooth. Drizzle over the top of the cake, letting it run down the sides.

If you are decorating with almonds, sprinkle them all over….and that’s it, a delish Orange Poppy Seed Syrup Cake to share with loved ones 🙂

Storage – This cake keeps well as it’s moist from the sugar syrup so I think it is still great, kept in an airtight container, up until it’s 4 days old.

It’s nice at room temperature or even warmed for 20 seconds in the microwave and is nice served with whipped cream and even nicer served with yoghurt.