Orange and poppyseed bundt cake
Orange and poppyseed bundt cake
As soon as I open our stock pantry I feel like closing the door right back again. There is so much junk in there that it scares me to start organizing. Going through the contents however I do find a large jar of poppy seed…
Remember I told you I would probably have to give up the studio? Well, the decision has been made that it has to go and now that the decision is made, I’m fine with that. It just makes sense financially and also logistically. We’ve decided that one of the rooms upstairs will be converted in a mini studio. It will be big enough to store all my props and do food shoots. Anything else would either have to be on location or it will have to be in a rented studio, which will still be many more times cheaper then the 12.000 euro I pay now every year.
Cutting into the cake
But having said that; converting a room into a studio might sound easy in theory but in reality it means a whole lot of work. This room has been used as our “catroom” for 13 years. Remember we used to have 5 cats at the low point in our lives (way too many!!) but since there is only one left, having a catroom for just Gizmo is ridiculous. Besides her food and catlitterbox it also has a very large bookshelf stuffed with things we never looked at, a huge wardrobe and a little freezer. All that will have to go so we started planning on de-cluttering our entire house; not just the one room. And I cannot believe the amount of junk we gathered in the last 20 years since we’ve been together. All the stuff that we kept in the attic in boxes can basically all go (and has gone by now) We’ve brought cars full of stuff to the second hand store (books and things that might still be of use to other people) and an equal amount of car loads full went to the garbage.
It’s one of those things you start with, not realizing the enormous amount of work involved. It makes sense to do it now as Tom is at home, not having a job, so it keeps him occupied.. 
The attic is as good as ready, the soon-to-be-studio is empty apart from the wardrobe closet (need to sort out all the clothes first before we moved that one) Once it’s empty it will be painted and maybe a new floor too and then I can start moving things from the studio into the home studio. But let’s not get ahead of myself; that will probably be a few months from now.
In the meantime I also found a huge jar of poppy seed. 500 grams unopened to be exact. What on earth do you do with 500 grams of poppy seed? Sprinkling it on buns and stuff like that will not help much so when I saw this recipe for a poppy seed Bundt cake I could not resist and had to make it immediately! It uses a whopping amount of 120 grams so only 380 grams left. (Any ideas on what to do with the rest please let me know!)
Orange poppyseed Bundt cake
Yield: 10-12
Prep Time: 35 mins
Cook Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins
Ingredients:
- 120g poppy seed
- 250ml milk
- 225g butter (soft at roomtemperature, plus a little extra for greasing the tin)
- 220g sugar
- 3 eggs
- 300g flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 vanilla bean (seeds scraped)
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 4 tablespoons orange juice
orange glaze
- 125ml golden syrup
- 1 orange (make very thin strips of the zest and juice the rest of the orange)
Directions:
| Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease a bundt cake tin with a diameter of 20 cm and lightly dust with flour. Heat the poppyseed with the milk in a saucepan until almost boiling and then take the pan of the heat. Leave to cool while you work on your cake batter. |
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| Whisk the butter and the sugar together on medium speed until you have a thick and pale mixture. Add the eggs one by one while you keep whisking. Put the flour and baking powder together through a sieve and ad a pinch of salt. Spoon a third of the flour mixture through the buttermix. Spoon half the poppyseed mix through the batter, then a third of the flour mixture again, the rest of the poppyseed mixture and then ending with the last third of the flour mixture. You should be left with a smooth but airy texture of the batter. Mix in the vanilla, orangezest and the orange juice. Pour the batter into the cake tin and put the cake one level below the middle in the oven. Bake for about 55-65 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes and then carefully turn out onto a cake rack where you should let it cool for another 3 hrs. |
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| Heat the golden syrup with the orange strips and the orange juice in a small saucepan on low heat. Leave to boil softly for about 4-5 minutes while stirring occasionally. It should reduce to about 2/3 of the original volume. Pour the glaze with the orange over the bundt cake just shortly before serving. |
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Note
Golden syrup is not easy to find in the Netherlands. it's like stroop but a much lighter color. There are apparently a few supermarkets that sell it. I've heard people mentioning Vomar or even Xenos or Action. You should be able to find it online for sure. If not, you can use honey like I did. It worked fine for me, but ofcourse I do not know what the flavor will be with golden syrup. it was delicious with honey, so a good alternative I think.
Recipe by Delicious Magazine
I have a thing for bundt cakes, so if you want a few more ideas have a look at;
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
Absolutely beautiful and so mouthwatering!
Cheers,
Rosa
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:29
Thanks Rosa!
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Hmmm….that is a lot of Poppy seed cake. I only know how t ouse it for baking too Simone. I will ask the Chef when he comes home later, as he might have some ideas.
It is easy to accumulate stuff, isn’t it? We have moved so much over the last five years, I am on the other end of the spectrum now. I have given and donated everything…….and last week my Mum came over during the week and we spent an entire day boxing up old toys for charity, sorting through and donating FOUR BAGS FULL of old clothes. I do this three times a year. It is theraputic and the only way to keep on top of ‘stuff’ around here with all the kids. Now, with the grown up stuff, and because we have very little left, I am careful to accumulate and only purchase what we consider ‘life-keepers’. You know, like that little copper pot of yours. Something, you know when you buy it, you will have for life.
Glad to know you are keeping Tom busy and I can’t wait to see how you set up your studio. I need some help with this!
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:30
I think it makes a whole lot of sense to do this far more often then once every 20 yrs. We are starting to feel like we should have def done this way way earlier! Sooooo much junk has gathered and we’ve already tossed out enormous amounts. The worst is done though and I love the end result!
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Che bella questa ricetta
ciao
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:30
Thanks Stefania
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The Golden syrup looks lovely, I bet honey would work as a substitute.
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:30
Yep that works very well as substitute
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I love the usual lemon poppyseed cake but why not with orange? Great for coffee or tea time.
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:31
I didn’t even know there was a usual lemon poppyseed cake! Gotta try that too, so I can use more poppyseeds..
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Half a kilo of poppy seeds is a lot! I love poppy seed lemon muffins. You use them to make some pasta sauces, they go well with squash.
I would love to see pictures of your new space. Can you do a before and after?
I have been decluttering/dejunking my house and it feels so good.
I have one room I would love to transform into my craft room but my hubby is not too keep to the idea, so now I use the guest room, which has not much space left with the huge bed.
Love the dreamy first picture, the soft light eludes me, I need to practice more and to find the right window.
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:32
I should really do a before and after of the new ‘studio’ for sure. Good idea. It’s a bit late for the before but since it’s not anywhere close to done, I can certainly do a current one!
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What a lovely flavor combination!
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:32
It’s definitely a tasty cake!
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delicious looking cake and presentation
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:32
Thanks!
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My grandmother introduced me to the wonderful combination of citrus & poppyseed when I was a young girl. Of course, I didn’t have the wherewithall to appreciate it then. But, these days whenever I see a recipe like this, I’m grateful for those early influences.
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:33
I wish I had paid more attention to a lot of things when I was younger. Although my mum was a terrible cook so I don’t think I missed much in that respect…
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This is a lovely cake and the glaze looks great.
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:33
Thanks Bianca!
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Love that Bundt!
You can do my favorite poppy seed cake – it’s a family recipe and all of us love it (most of all it’s sweethearts favourite) it’s dark and moist and sooo good.
http://foodblog.paulchens.org/?p=1199 just bake the base and sprinkle it with caster sugar, that’s how my Mom originally makes it. I just use it for any cake I do for sweetheart… seriously you don’t need the filling!
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:35
O thanks for that recipe Astrid! I will for sure check it out. Sounds delicious… and it uses poppyseed…
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Your cake looks so delicious. I love orange and poppyseed, and your photos look amazing, especially with the glaze dripping over the cake.
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:35
Thanks Jennifer!
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Oh so sad, but won’t it be so much more convenient having the studio just upstairs? And Gizmo is always with you anyway…. but do you have a guest room as well?
And, yes, with JP home all the time now I really need to find things to keep him occupied, happy and off the streets as well!
Luscious cake! I have so been in the mood to bake with orange and I love the idea of blending with poppyseeds in a simple but flavorful cake, the kind of cake that gets eaten up the quickest around here!
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 8th, 2011 at 18:37
It will definitely be more convenient to have all my stuff in one place, so that’s a good thing! Hmm, I should have a guestroom as well now should I not? We usually use the attic for that. Not the best guestroom but maybe the studio could double as a guestroom too…
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Your photos are always just out of this world beautiful, Simone. That cake is no exception! Makes me want to have a slice right now. Although I too, am more familiar with the more traditional “Lemon / Poppy Seed” combination, I find orange to be very intriguing. I’ll have to work on making a healthy version of that.
I’m real glad that you are at peace with the decision of letting go your studio. From what I read, I think that it’ll do you a lot of good after all! Declutering always makes you feel so incredibly good when it’s all done. I hope we get to see pictures of your future “home studio”.
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 9th, 2011 at 00:20
I will definitely be showing pics of the ‘studio’ once it is finished Sonia… But that’s gonna be a while I think..
Let me know if you manage to make a healthy version of this cake… I’m sure that would make me feel better!
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I’ve always loved poppy seed and citrus cakes and muffins. If you are looking for a non-cake use for the poppy seeds, try pastries with poppy seed filling (http://www.food.com/recipe/poppy-seed-filling-54695). I grew up having this filling in hamentashen – a cookie for the Jewish holiday Purim – but I think it would be tasty year-round.
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 9th, 2011 at 00:15
Thanks so much for the link to the recipe. Definitely going to check it out!
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Oh, wow…this is unlike any citrus poppy seed cake I’ve ever seen. I love that it’s loaded with poppy seeds, and I love the golden syrup!! I can almost taste the fresh punch of the orange!! This is on my ‘to make’list, very soon, although I doubt it will be as beautiful as yours!
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 9th, 2011 at 00:15
Yes I think it would be very difficult to overlook the poppyseeds here.. (imagine having to pick them all out if you didn’t like poppy seed..lol)
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I’m glad that you’re OK with the decision you took and that it will simplify your life. But poor Gizmo will have to give up his room, hehe. I love how that cake looks! I want something sweet now
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You are clearly so talented that I’m sure you will flourish wherever you set up your equipment. If it were me, I’d prefer to be at home. You can work in your pajamas!
I need to make this cake, I, too, have an unopened bottle of poppyseeds that I’ve been wondering what to do with. You make this cake look amazing, thanks.
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I love poppy seeds so this looks delicious. You can take the money you save and travel.
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