Caramel orange & poppy seed cake

Caramel orange & poppy seed cake

Be prepared for everyone to ask for two slices of this truly classy cake

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 10

Preparation and cooking times

Total time

Ready in 1 hr 30 mins

Method

  1. To make the caramelised oranges, put the caster sugar in a frying pan in an even layer and heat until it starts to melt and turn a golden colour. Tip the pan from side to side to keep the caramel as even as you can. Once it reaches a dark gold, carefully add half the orange juice from the cake oranges (it will splutter so stand back). Keep on the heat, stirring so that any lumps melt back into the caramel. Add the orange slices and heat gently for about 5 minutes until they soften a little. Lift out and drain, keep the caramel and orange slices for later.
  2. Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Stir the poppy seeds and milk in a bowl. Beat the butter, orange zest and sugar with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Gradually beat in the eggs. Sift in the flour and baking powder and add the poppy seed and milk mixture. Stir, then spoon half into a loaf tin lined with baking parchment. Add a layer of caramelised orange slices and cover with the rest of the mixture. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
  3. While the cake is cooking, make the icing. Add the sugar to the remaining orange juice and stir. Add to the caramel but don't try to dissolve the sugar. Pour over the hot cake while it is in the tin, lay the rest of the orange slices down the centre and leave to cool. Remove from the tin when cold.

Per serving

464 kcalories, protein 6.3g, carbohydrate 68.2g, fat 20.3 g, saturated fat 11.2g, fibre 1.2g, salt 0.74 g

Recipe from olive magazine, February 2008.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo catwoman

    16 March 2008

    catwoman commented on this recipe

    Would this be a 2lb loaf tin that's used?

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  • Binder photo Ermintrude75

    17 March 2008

    Ermintrude75 commented on this recipe

    Might be useful if the recipe said how much baking powder to use! Why baking powder at all when self raising flour is used?

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  • Binder photo Ermintrude75

    26 March 2008

    Ermintrude75 commented on this recipe

    Update: worked well with 2tsp baking powder, although took longer to cook than stated (1:15-1:20). Had to make it without poppy seeds as none in my local supermarket. Seemed quite greasy when cooked - maybe a little less butter? Lovely marmaladey taste; thinner-skinned oranges would be less bitter but I quite liked that aspect.

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  • Binder photo Loullabelle

    06 April 2008

    Loullabelle commented on this recipe

    Just looked in my copy of the magazine - it should be 1/4 tsp of baking powder.

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  • Binder photo karen

    30 May 2008

    karen rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This recipe is amazing! Just bought some into work and they all loved it. Follow the recipe exactly and you will have a very nice moist cake. Yummy!!!

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  • Binder photo Rachel

    22 June 2008

    Rachel commented on this recipe

    I found the ideal loaf tin size is 21 x 11cm (8 x 4 inches). Looked in 3 different shops before we found poppy seeds, but the cake turned out perfectly. We used a quarter of a teaspoon of baking powder. It took the longer cooking time of about 62 mins for a knife to come out of the cake clean. Disappointingly, the icing didn't look at all like the icing in the picture above - it was clear and there was a lot of it, and it all just sank into the cake and made it taste very intensely marmaladey at the edges. I think this may be because we used very juicy oranges so there was too much liquid. The caremelised oranges on the top of the cake seemed a bit pointless as they didn't attach to the cake in any way, so we took them off, but the cake tastes good and overall was a great success!

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  • Binder photo pauline

    12 July 2008

    pauline commented on this recipe

    Have looked everywhere for poppy seeds(Sainsburys,Tescos and Waitrose) can anyone make any more suggestions?

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  • Binder photo gaye

    19 July 2008

    gaye commented on this recipe

    Julian Graves sell small bags of poppy seeds.

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  • Binder photo jdeming79

    16 August 2008

    jdeming79 commented on this recipe

    asda sells poppy seeds you have to look in the whole food section or near the baking things usually on bottom shelf near nuts. If you liked this cake try the Tom's orange and poppy seed cake on this site. You poach oranges then line the tin with them so the decoration bakes in. It was lovely and has homemade orange curd sandwiched in it!

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  • Binder photo Lynda D

    10 September 2008

    Lynda D commented on this recipe

    This receipe sounds delicious but where can I buy the poppy seeds from. Looked at several stores and places on the internet but can't find a supplier. Help!!!

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  • Binder photo Chris Martin

    28 September 2008

    Chris Martin commented on this recipe

    If you have some polish shops in your area, go there for your poppy seeds ! Very popular in the polish recipes

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  • Binder photo sally

    20 October 2008

    sally rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    This was the worst recipe I have ever tried from good food, I threw the first lot of caramel away as when I added the orange juice it just went into a hard ball, the second lot was not a lot better despite adding the juice incredibly slowly and the hard lumps refused to melt back down. I used what I thought was a fairly standard loaf tin and the mixture just rose and dropped all over the cooker in mounds, and took much longer to cook. The icing did not look anything like the photo (and the icing on the photo could not have been done while the cake was still in the tin (as per recipe) because it would not have dripped down the sides like that if it was, and to top it all off it is impossible to slice as it just falls to pieces, needless to say I will not be making this again!

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  • Binder photo bluelampshade

    07 November 2008

    bluelampshade commented on this recipe

    Asda sells them at a great price. In my store they are by the nuts and baking ingrediants

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  • Binder photo Rachel

    11 November 2008

    Rachel commented on this recipe

    We got our poppy seeds from a larger Co-op store, but I have since seen them in Sainsbury's/Tesco. Maybe Sally burnt her sugar, as you have to be very careful when melting sugar and we had no problems at all by heating it very slowly and gently. I think next time we make this we'll try cutting up all of the caremelised oranges and incorporating them into the cake mixture, as the cake itself was dry in areas which didn't have orange next to them.

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  • Binder photo BagelCat

    10 February 2009

    BagelCat commented on this recipe

    How well does this cake keep? What is best way to store it. Cake looks lovely but I do not have time to make it on the day it is needed.

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  • Binder photo Lucy

    24 March 2009

    Lucy commented on this recipe

    I have made this cake a few times now and with the exception of the icing never looking as it does in the photo (mine is always runny), its a great cake to make. I think the oranges running through the centre are not necessary, and will make it next time without. In terms of storing, it stores really well in a tin, tupperware or covered cake stand and keeps for a good few days, up to a week. My friend loved it as a Birthday present, wrapped in baking parchment and tied with a ribbon! For me, the poppy seeds are must.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 10

Preparation and cooking times

Total time

Ready in 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 oranges , zested and juiced
  • 30g poppy seeds
  • 100ml milk
  • 200g butter , at room temperature
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 300g self-raising flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder

CARAMELISED ORANGES

ICING

  • 100g caster sugar
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Per serving

464 kcalories, protein 6.3g, carbohydrate 68.2g, fat 20.3 g, saturated fat 11.2g, fibre 1.2g, salt 0.74 g

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