Orange & poppy seed cake with chocolate sauce

Recipe uploaded by

Jennifer Joyce

10 ratings

Recipe by Jennifer Joyce

Subscribe to Good Food magazine - 3 issues for £3

Tested

Leave a comment or rate this recipe

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Grease a 20cm springform cake tin or line a similar-size cake tin with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, combine 200g butter and 200g sugar in a large bowl. Beat until light and creamy, about 2 mins, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after you add each one. Tip in the flour and baking powder, mix for a few secs, then add the orange juice, zest of 2 oranges and poppy seeds. Stir everything together, then pour into the cake tin. Bake for 50 mins, then remove from the oven. Cool completely in the tin.
2. Meanwhile, make the candied orange zest by combining the remaining zest (finely sliced), 25g sugar and 100ml water in a small pan. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 mins until thick. Remove the zest with a slotted spoon onto a sheet of non-stick baking paper.
3. For the sauce, heat the cream in a small pan until nearly boiling. Put the chocolate and remaining butter into a bowl, then pour the hot cream over it and leave for 1 min to melt. Stir together until smooth, then let it sit until the cake is cool (if it hardens, just reheat gently). Drizzle the sauce over the cake, sprinkle with the candied zest and serve.

PER SERVING

650 kcalories, protein 8g, carbohydrate 65g, fat 42 g, saturated fat 23g, fibre 0g, salt 0.86 g

Latest comments and suggestions

• Nicola

  28 October 2008

  Nicola rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Wow - this cake is amazing! I made it a bit bigger by adding 50% to the ingredients and putting it in a bigger cake tin as I was making it for a crowd. It took a little longer to bake, but worked perfectly and everyone loved it. There was quite a lot of the chocolate, so I spread it over the whole top of the cake and still had some left. I'll definately be making this cake again...moist, flavourful and unusual!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Robyn

  01 November 2008

  Robyn rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Really tasty easy cake! I didnt do the toppings, instead i added 1 orange juice to the cake mix and then poured over the rest like a drizzle cake with some sugar once it had come out of the oven. I used 200g butter in the mix- unlike the 225g suggested in the recipe as i thought the extra 25g might make it a little heavy. Very light.. nice change to a sponge!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Ami

  12 February 2009

  Ami rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Very easy to make and incredibly delicious. Roasting the poppy seeds is a very good idea, it releases all those great flavors. I also used just 200g butter. Be careful not to chose a bitter chocolate for the cream, unless you want it so.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Jo H

  14 April 2009

  Jo H rated and commented on this recipe

  

  An amazing soft and moisty cake with a lot of taste. I skipped the topping as I had not enough time and I served it with frozen berries and some cream. Totally amazing!!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Penny Tolley

  16 April 2009

  Penny Tolley commented on this recipe

  I want to try this recipe but I'm having trouble finding poppy seeds - Sainsburys/Tesco/Morrisons don't seem to have them - can you advise where I can buy anyone?

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• David Barkham

  16 April 2009

  David Barkham commented on this recipe

  Penny, you can definitely get them from Waitrose. Making this with my son this afternoon so will post back with results. Thanks for the tips.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Kay

  17 April 2009

  Kay rated and commented on this recipe

  

  my cake was rather dry and unfortunately I did use very dark chocolate so not very popular.....

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Theresa

  22 April 2009

  Theresa commented on this recipe

  Penny, I found poppy seeds at a Julian Graves shop after seeing them on their website.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• luv2eat

  23 April 2009

  luv2eat commented on this recipe

  Great cake, very easy. I too only used 200 gms butter in cake and a tablespoon of butter in the chocolate sauce. For an even moister cake you can boil up orange juice and sugar and when it cools, tip over hot cake when it comes out of the oven (first stab small skewer holes in cake) Syrup will then seep into cake and keep it lovely and moist. Then decorate as per recipe above. Oranges can also be substituted with mandarin juice and zest.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Orla

  05 May 2009

  Orla rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Very yummy cake and very easy to make. The topping looks impressive and was suprisingly easy to create.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• SaraO

  07 May 2009

  SaraO commented on this recipe

  I made this for a cake sale at work, and it sold out within minutes! The glossy chocolate on top and candied zest make it look really impressive, and the flavours got a big thumbs up too! Lots of people commented on how light and moist it was, and that the orange isn't overpowering at all. Would definitely make this again. In fact, I wish I had some to eat now!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• SaraO

  07 May 2009

  SaraO rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Forgot the stars!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Lianne

  18 May 2009

  Lianne rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Fantastic, went down a treat!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• HollyWoozle

  19 July 2009

  HollyWoozle rated and commented on this recipe

  

  I just baked this cake and was pleased with the results. I didn't have cream for the topping so I just mixed orange juice with sugar and drizzled it over the top. I would use more orange zest next time as the flavour of the cake isn't that strong, however it has turned out soft, moist and moreish. I bought my poppy seeds in the baking section of sainsburys, they are in an orange and red packet.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Helen

  23 September 2009

  Helen rated and commented on this recipe

  

  I make this without the topping and it's fab. I just drizzle some melted chocolate over the top. I'm thinking about trying it with lemons - will report back!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7999/

Your binder

• Register
• Sign in
• More info

Sign up or sign in to receive a £40 wine voucher, and to save, rate and comment on recipes. Plus, get our newsletter.

Ingredients

• 250g butter , at room temperature, plus 1 tbsp extra
• 200g golden caster sugar , plus 25g
• 3 eggs
• 250g plain flour , sifted
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• juice of 2 oranges , zest of 4
• 50g poppy seeds , toasted

FOR THE SAUCE

• 100ml double cream
• 100g chocolate , chopped

Search Good Food

Keywords

Refine your recipe search

Search filter options

Search by cooking times Less than 10 minutes 10-30 minutes 35-60 minutes Over an hour Search by difficulty Easy Moderately easy For the keen cook Search by cuisine American British Cajun & Creole Caribbean French German Greek Indian Italian Mediterranean Mexican Moroccan Scottish Spanish Swiss Thai Vietnamese Search by course Warm starter Cold starter Main course Side dish Pudding Search by calorie range Less than 200 200-400 400-600 600-800 Over 800 Search by occasion Midweek meal Dinner party Family favourite Birthdays Christmas New Year Mother's Day Chinese New Year Easter Search by chef Good Food Team olive Angela Nilsen Annabel Karmel Anthony Worral Thompson Gary Rhodes Gordon Ramsay James Martin John Torode Ken Hom Lesley Waters Mary Cadogan Merrilees Parker Nick Nairn Orlando Murrin Ruth Watson Silvana Franco Thane Prince Tony Tobin Search by diet Vegetarian Vegan Gluten-free Dairy-free Nut-free Egg-free Low-fat Low in salt Suitable for diabetics Search by magazine BBC Good food olive Search by servings 1 2 4 6 8 For a crowd

Difficulty and servings

Serves 8

Preparation and cooking times

Prep 15 mins

Cook 50 mins

Vegetarian

Can be frozen without sauce

Ingredients

• 250g butter , at room temperature, plus 1 tbsp extra
• 200g golden caster sugar , plus 25g
• 3 eggs
• 250g plain flour , sifted
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• juice of 2 oranges , zest of 4
• 50g poppy seeds , toasted

FOR THE SAUCE

• 100ml double cream
• 100g chocolate , chopped

PER SERVING

650 kcalories, protein 8g, carbohydrate 65g, fat 42 g, saturated fat 23g, fibre 0g, salt 0.86 g

Your binder

Here are three other great reasons why to sign up:

• You get an online binder, where you can store all your favourite recipes and create menus.
• You can add your own recipes to this site for others to try; plus, rate and make comments on recipes, and share your views on our blog.
• You can sign up for our weekly newsletter (sent out on Wednesdays) - it's packed with recipes, special offers and competitions.

Recipes from the new TV channel and celebrity chefs. goodfoodchannel.co.uk