blood orange poppyseed cakes
I hope you all had nice weekends. I had a quiet weekend at home recovering from a busy week at work. I did quite a bit of cooking, catching up on items for the blog as I'm going to be out of Sydney for the next couple of weekends. When I return the flat is being repainted so I don't know how easy it will be to get into the kitchen.
Here's the last blood orange recipe for a while. I still have one more item to make but I'm sure you're ready for something else so next week expect something savoury from my kitchen.
I decided to make some little blood orange poppyseed cakes. Initially I was going to make them in muffin tins but I didn't want to use liners and I couldn't be bothered greasing and lining the tins so I decided to use my little loaf tins instead.
I whipped these up from an old recipe I photographed a few years back. I didn't type up the recipes back then or post them, so the recipe is hand written in an old notebook. It's good to see my styling has improved a bit since then!
The recipe made 4 little loaves and I probably could have squeezed all the batter into the tins but I decided to make a little teeny tiny cake specially for the cook.
The syrup didn't really go far enough so I might make double the quantity next time.
Here's the recipe for you which makes one 16 cm cake, a small bundt or loaf cake or 4 mini loaf or bundt cakes. If you double the mixture it will make an 8 inch cake.
Blood Orange Poppy Seed Cakes
1¼ cups plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tbl poppy seeds
110g (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
100g (3½ oz) caster sugar
Finely grated rind of 1 blood orange
2 eggs
¼ cup blood orange juice
Method
Grease and flour 4 small loaf or bundt tins. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a small bowl. Stir though the poppy seeds and set to one side. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, orange rind and caster sugar. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs then gradually mix into butter mixture. If the mixture starts to look curdled, add a spoonful of the flour mixture.
Add the remaining flour mixture to the batter alternating with the orange juice to make a soft batter. If the batter looks too thick add a little more juice.
Spoon the batter into the prepared tins and bake the cakes in the 180°C/350°F oven for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are lightly golden and cakes are cooked when tested with a skewer. Leave the cakes to cool for about 10 minutes before turning out on a wire rack. Pour over the blood orange syrup.
Blood Orange Syrup
1 small blood orange
⅓ cup caster sugar
⅓ cup water
Method
Peel the orange and finely shred the peel. Juice the blood orange and set the juice to one side. In a small pan bring some water to the boil, and then cook the peel for 1 minute. Drain the peel and rinse.
Return the orange rind to the pan with the juice, the sugar and the additional water. Bring the mixture to the boil then simmer until the syrup is reduced by half. If the syrup thickens up a bit you can warm it up again and if you have any left over blood orange juice you can add a tablespoon at this point to freshen up the flavour of the syrup. Pour the syrup over the cooled cake decorating the tops of the cakes with the candied peel.
Serve with a nice cup of tea and enjoy.
Do you remember a few weeks ago I was wondering whether I should rename the blog, delicious bites? I'd like to go ahead and with that I'll need a new logo. I've made some enquiries and the price to redesign the blog and provide a logo is way out of my budget.
For the first time in 10 years I don't have a regular photography gig so the coffers are bare. I'm planning to use a pre-made template but would like to jazz it up with a new logo. In the past my clever readers have helped me out with my shopshoot logo (many thanks Jess) and I was wondering if there was any-one out there who could help me?
I've an idea of what I want, I just need someone clever who can realise my ideas. If you think you could help, please email me (info at jillianleiboff.com) or leave your contact details in the comments section.
Bye for now,
Jillian
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