Orange Poppy Seed Cake

Cooking can be hard in January. I am always trying to strike a balance between hearty and warming and not too fattening. After all, we all just went through the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s culinary marathons.  This is why I love German cake recipes. The recipes have roughly one-third to one-half of the amount of sugar as their United States counterparts. This Orange Poppy Seed Cake is a perfect January cake. Of course, it is tasty enough to make any time of year. But it hit the spot this week.

This cake has the citrus brightness of fresh orange and the nutty, earthy, slightly sweet taste of poppy seeds. I found the original recipe for this Orange Poppy Seed Cake in a German food magazine. However, it was so long ago that I don’t have a proper reference for it anymore. Regardless, I did change the method up quite a bit.

The cake is fairly easy to throw together. Whisk the poppy seeds with flour, salt, and baking powder. Then, cream together the butter and white granulated sugar. I recommend a full three minutes at a medium-high speed.  Add four aggs, one a time. Make sure each is fully incorporated into the batter before adding the next. Add some pure vanilla extract and freshly squeezed orange juice and zest. I could not find my zester when I made this cake. So, I improvised with a peeper and pulled off strips from the orange skin instead.  That’s the reason for the orange blob in he photo above.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and pour into a greased and floured loaf pan. The bake time is fairly long. It’s 50 minutes. Also, when it comes out of the oven, you have two choices.

Two Ways to serve this Cake

First, you can let it cool for 10-15 minutes and then slice and serve. Second, let the Orange Poppy Seed Cake cool completely and then glaze it. Simply whisk together powdered sugar and orange juice and pour it over the cooled cake. You have to wait until the glaze hardens before slicing and serving. However, I believe the second option is well worth the extra time from oven to mouth.

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Orange Poppy Seed Cake

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine European

Keyword glazed orange cake, loaf cake, orange cake, Orange poppy seed cake, poppy seed cake

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 2+1/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup poppy seeds
• 1-2 oranges*
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter room-temperature
• 3/4 cups white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1+1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and flour a loaf pan, and dust with flour.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds
4. Zest and juice the orange. Separate 2 tablespoons of the juice.
5. Beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until creamy (about 3 minutes).
6. Beat in the vanilla.
7. Add the eggs one at a time. Make sure each is fully incorporated into the batter before adding the next.
8. Beat in the zest and 6 tablespoons of orange juice.
9. Turn the mixer down to low and gradually add the dry ingredients.
10. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
11. Bake for 50 minutes.
12. De-pan and transfer the cake to a rack positioned over a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
13. Let cool completely.
14. Whisk together the reserved orange juice and the powdered sugar.
15. Drizzle over the cooled cake.
16. When the glaze has hardened, transfer to a platter, cut, and serve.

Recipe Notes

*You need 8 tablespoons of freshly squeezed orange juice.

So, do you like this Orange Poppy Seed Cake? Then also check out some of these other delicious recipes:

LEMON POPPY SEED TORTE

LENTIL SPÄTZLE PORK MIX

PEAR POPPY SEED CAKE WITH CARAMEL SAUCE