Best Bitter Orange Poppy Seed Cake Recipes

ORANGE AND POPPY SEED CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Grease and line an 8-inch round cake pan with baking or parchment paper.
• In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, poppy seeds and orange zest. Stir briefly to combine.
• In a separate bowl, add orange juice, oil, eggs and vanilla. Whisk briefly just to break up the egg yolks.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, along with the yogurt and milk, and gently mix until combined - but be careful not to over mix. Spoon batter into prepared tin.
• Bake cake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the cream cheese frosting, add butter and cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and continue to beat until smooth.
• Add orange juice and mix until frosting is creamy. Taste and add extra orange juice if needed. Generously frost the top of the cake. Scatter over fresh orange zest.

BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE ORANGE POPPY-SEED LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Filling:.
• 1 day before: In a bowl, stir together the sour cream, heavy cream and sugar and let the mixture stand, covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature for 24 hours.
• At least 1 hour before: In a metal bowl set over barely simmering water, melt the cocolate, stirring until smooth, and let it cool. Whisk the chocolate, the zest, and the Grand Marnier into the cream mixture and chill the filling, covered, for 1 hour.
• Cake:.
• Line a buttered jelly-roll pan (15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1-inch) with wax paper, butter the paper, and dust the pan with flour, shaking out the excess.
• In a small bowl, stir together the buttermilk, poppy seeds, and the zest.
• In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
• In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla until the mixture is just combined.
• Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk mixture to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating well after each addition until the batter is just combined.
• In another bowl with cleaned beaters, beat the egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks; stir 1/4th of them into the batter to lighten it.
• Fold the remaining whites gently but thoroughly into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly, and bake the cake in the middle of a preheated 350°F oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is golden and the cake springs back when touched lightly. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack.
• Invert the cake onto the rack and remove the wax paper carefully. With a serrated knife, cut the cake crosswise into 3 equal pieces.
• Glaze:.
• In a heavy saucepan, melt the chocolate with the butter and cream over low heat, stirring until the mixture is smooth. Let the glaze cool to room temperature.
• Assembly:.
• On a rack set over a jelly-roll pan, arrange one of the cake layers. Spread it with 1/3 of the filling; top the filling with another cake layer. Spread the cake with half of the remaining filling and top it with the remaining cake layer.
• Spread the remaining filling onto the top and sides of the cake and chill the cake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is set.
• Pour the glaze evenly over the cake, smoothing it over the sides, and chill the cake for 30 minutes or until the glaze is set.

ORANGE POPPY SEED CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F Grease 10-inch bundt pan (or two small loaf pans).
• Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Mix well after each addition.
• Fold in poppy seeds, vanilla and grated orange zest. Pour batter into the prepared pan(s).
• Set on middle rack of oven and bake for 50-60 minutes (less time if baked in loaf pans), or until edges shrink away slightly from sides of pan and cake tester inserted into center comes out clean. Let cake cool in the pan for 30 minutes before turning it out onto a cake rack.
• When cake has slightly cooled, prick holes in it 1 1/2 inches apart with a long toothpick and pour the *Orange glaze evenly over top. Serve warm. Disposable loaf pans work great for this, as the pans hold all the glaze and keep the cake moist.
• *Orange Glaze.
• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice.
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar.
• Combine orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until a light syrup forms.