Poppy Seed and Blood Orange Sticky Cake
I’m not one to give up on a recipe. In fact I will repeat making it until I get it right. Ok. it may have been perfectly fine the first time round however I have to try it several times until I’m entirely happy.In this case it was the shape that I was not completely happy with. Now I know it sounds rather pedantic and I must come across as being a bit of a “drama queen” but then it would not have been the first nor would it be the last time that I have heard that comment.Yes I am a drama queen but I found that this deliciously indulgent and very seductive cake looks at its’ prettiest in a loaf shape. I tried it round, square and today – this shape.
It’s mid season for blood oranges and even though they are imported I still think they are pretty special and are one of my personal seasonal favourties. I love the deep red colour and they have a stronger orange taste and more vitamin C than the normal type but have a pleasant hint of redcurrant.
This cake is not for the fainthearted and you must be seriously committed to complete the baking.For me it’s worth every ounce of effort as it’s superbly delicious. Start by soaking the poppy seeds in warm milk, then mix the cake batter by beating the butter, sugar and zest until light, airy and fluffy. Fold in the sifted dry ingredients and finally fold the soaked swollen poppy seeds into the batter.As it takes 1 hour to bake the cake, prepare the blood orange marmalade sauce that is to be spooned over the cake.
Previously I was not fussed in using poppy seeds in cakes as I found them to be too crunchy and it seemed to have a rather bizarre texture. However by soaking the poppy seeds in milk they swell up, become softer and you get a cake with superb layers of flavour, truly memorable.
Whilst baking this cake it took me back to when I was a child, mum used to bake a lemon poppy seed cake and we used to refer to it as the ‘ant cake’, well I suppose the poppy seeds looks like ants!?
This cake not only makes the perfect slice with a cup of tea but also a pretty special pudding served slightly warm with blood orange sorbet and a dollop of crème fraîche.
Poppy Seed and Blood Orange Cake
- 80g poppy seeds
- 170ml milk
- 200g soft unsalted butter
- 1tbs orange zest
- 140g caster sugar
- 3 medium free range eggs
- 300g plain flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powered
- 125ml freshly squeezed blood orange juice
Preheat the oven to 180 °C, grease and line a 27cm x 15cm loaf tin with parchment paper.
Put the milk and poppy seeds into a small saucepan,over a low heat bring the milk to near boiling. Turn the heat off and leave the poppy seeds to soak whilst whipping the butter and sugar.
Whip the soft butter, sugar and orange zest until pale in colour, light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beat well after each addition.
Sift the flour and baking powder and gently fold the flour into the beaten butter mixture. Do not overwork the mix.
Add the blood orange juice to the soaked poppy seeds and milk mixture, then fold this into the cake batter.
Transfer the cake batter to the prepared loaf tin and bake it in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Test if the cake is cooked by inserting a metal skewer, if the skewer comes out clean then the cake is cooked.While the cake is baking, make the blood orange marmalade sauce.
Let the cake cool down for 20 minutes before spooning over the blood orange marmalade.
Blood Orange Marmalade Sauce
- 160g caster sugar
- 250ml freshly squeezed blood orange juice
- 50g orange skin, julienned
In a small sauce pan dissolve the sugar in the orange juice over very low heat, once the sugar dissolves turn the heat up to a rolling boil.
Add the julienned orange skin, brush the sides down with a pastry brush dipped in hot water, do not stir whist the marmalade is boiling.
Cook the sauce until thick and glossy, if you have a sugar thermometer then boil until the sauce reaches 102°C.
Let the sauce cool down slightly before pouring it over the cooled cake.
Serves 10/12
Food Fanatics Tip
Substitute the blood oranges for normal oranges or clementines or satsumas. Store the cake in a airtight container, it seems to get better with age served slightly warm.
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i made this but exchanged orange juice for lemon juice and poppy seeds for cardamom and the result was equally good!
Made this yesterday with my Thermomix. It rose beautifully but then collapsed as it cooled so was somewhat heavy (why, oh why, oh why does this happen). Nevertheless, great taste and went very well with a blob of cream for pudding. Struggled to find poppy seeds – I’m told there’s a general shortage due to global crop failures!!
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I made this cake yesterday for visiting family, and it went down very well. My sauce was a little redder than the one in the pictures, but there’s a lot of variation between different blood oranges of course. My aunt was so impressed, she asked for the recipe – what better compliment is there?
This sounds so delicious! I made lemon and poppy seed cakes a little bit ago so this sounds like a great alternative to that! Not to mention that blood oranges have the prettiest coloring. That marmalade on top looks great
`hows about putting the marmalade in the cake tin first.. then the cake batter..upside down cake..would it work??? By the way all top chefs are Prima Donnas…they’re allowed to be
The post from Abi made me laugh.. The parents sound very much like myself.. taste it ..if its really nice eat it..and then some more…Interesting about the soaked poppy seed… when I first saw the title I thought nah.not for me..don’t like poppy seeds in cakes for the same reason as you.. then I read about the soaking bit…thks for that… always learning huh!!
Oooh – reminds me of the Serbian & Polish poppy seed roll – been too long….
This sounds fantastic and I think I agree it wouldn’t look nearly as good in any other form.
Lucky for me that I work with the ‘drama queen’ in question. One of the big perks of my job is coming in to see a little plate of baked goods on my desk, fresh from Madalene’s kitchen for me to sample. Well one day after promising to bring in this amazing orange and poppy seed cake for me to try and forgetting then the next day telling me Mr. P’s parents had eaten it all (!), l the disappointment obviously showed in my face because the star that Madalene is, she got straight to work on baking a whole cake for us to enjoy in the kitchen!! Fantastic, it didn’t last two seconds!!