Orange and Poppy Seed Ring

Today I made this lovely cake, the recipe comes from the August 2004 Table magazine, yes it has taken me 2 years to finally get to this one! It is delicious, very light & fluffy, the poppy seeds give that lovely crunch to the texture too & of course the orange flavour is nice & zingy in this butter cake. Very easy to whip up too so recommended.

Orange & Poppy Seed Ring

125g butter, at room temperature, chopped
¾ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¼ cup milk
¼ cup orange juice
2 cups self raising flour, sifted
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
grated rind of 1 orange

Syrup
¾ cup orange juice
½ cup caster sugar
zested ring of one orange

Preheat oven to 180c. Lightly grease a fluted cake pan (20 cm). Using an electric mixer, beat butter & sugar until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition & scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in vanilla. Combine milk and orange juice, then alternating with flour, lightly fold into butter mixture, beginning & ending with flour. Mix in poppy seeds & rind. Spoon mixture into prepared tin, smoothing top. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cooked when tested.

Meanwhile, make syrup by combining juice & sugar in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring , then reduce heat & simmer, without stirring, for 5 minutes. Add rind & cook fro another 5 minutes, then remove from heat.

Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack over a baking tray. Pierce in several places, then spoon syrup over. Allow to soak in before serving.