Orange & Poppyseed Cake

Would you believe I've never made orange and poppyseed cake before? I love it whenever I eat it, but until now haven't attempted it. It was easy and absolutely beautiful. It takes a little time though, so you need to put aside about 30mins, plus the cooking time of 40-50mins. It is easily adapted to suit lactose intolerant and gluten intolerant people.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup milk (I used lactose-free milk)
• 1/3 cup poppyseeds
• 180g softened unsalted butter (I used olive spread, but a dairy free spread will work too)
• 1 cup caster sugar (I used brown sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• Finely grated zest from 3 oranges
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 and 1/2 cups plain flour (gluten free for celiacs)
• 2 tsp baking powder

Syrup:

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/4 cup white sugar (or caster)
• 20g unsalted butter (or olive spread, dairy free spread)
• Zest of 2 oranges

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celsius. Grease a 24cm cake pan and line base with baking paper
2. Place milk in a bowl and stir in the poppyseeds. Stand for 20 minutes
3. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and pale. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each
4. Gently fold in zest, juice and poppyseed mixture
5. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold in
6. Spoon the mixture into the pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
7. Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a plate

For the syrup:

1. Place the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan over a medium heat and stir until sugar has dissolved and butter has melted
2. Turn heat to high and simmer for 2 minutes
3. While the cake is still warm, pierce holes in the top of the cake with a skewer and pour over the hot syrup
4. Peel and thinly slice an orange and decorate the top of the cake and sprinkle with poppyseeds
5. Serve warm or cold.

D-E-L-icious  XD