poppy seed orange cake

 

Do you love poppy seed cakes? I do – nutty with a little crunch, and not too sweet. With the freshness of orange, the richness of sour cream, and finished with a syrup poured over the top and left to soak through, this one’s a beauty.

I have no idea how this recipe ended up in my recipe collection – it’s on a typed sheet, with spelling mistakes and all. Obviously from a friend long ago – maybe you recognise it? If you do, please give me a virtual slap for being such a slack friend. Anyway, thank you for the delicious cake, whoever you are!

 

Poppy seed orange cake

1/2 cup (125g) butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
125g sour cream
grated rind 1 orange
1 cup plain flour
1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn bi-carb soda
2 egg whites
60g poppy seeds

1 orange
1/2 lemon
1/3 cup sugar
pinch salt

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg yolks, sour cream and orange rind, and beat until light and fluffy. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda and fold into the mixture.

Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry, then fold into mixture, along with poppy seeds. Turn into a lightly oiled bundt tin, and bake at 160deg.C for 50 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 1/2 hour.

Turn cake out onto a plate with a rim.

In a small saucepan, combine the grated rind and juice of orange and lemon with the sugar and salt. Bring to the boil and boil for 3-4 minutes. Pour slowly over the  top of the cake.

Garnish with extra curls of citrus rind, and serve with extra cream if you really want to go the whole hog.