| Orange Poppy Seed Delight | ||||
| Makes 1 cake, serves 8 | ||||
| Cake | Syrup | |||
| 1 cup | milk | 1 | orange you saved from earlier, peel off | |
| 1/2 cup | vegetable oil | the rind and chop up the orange | ||
| 1/2 stick | butter, melted | 1 cup | water | |
| 2 | eggs | 1/2 cup | sugar | |
| ________ | 1/2 cup | honey | ||
| 2 cups | all-purpose flour | 2 tsp | cardamom | |
| 1 cup | sugar | |||
| 2 tbls | orange zest, (just zest one whole orange, | Shiny Glaze | ||
| then finely chop the zest), save the orange | 15 oz | (1 can) Mandarin oranges | ||
| for the syrup | ________ | |||
| 1 tbls | whole poppy seeds | 1/4 cup | cold water | |
| 1 tsp | salt | 1/4 oz | (1 pkg) gelatin powder | |
| 1 tsp | baking powder | ________ | ||
| 1 cup | reserved Mandarin orange juice | |||
| 1/4 cup | sugar | |||
| Cake | ||||
 Preheat
the oven to 350̊.In a mixer equipped with a beater, add the milk, oil, butter, and eggs. Turn the mixer on low to combine the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer off and add the flour, then back to low to blend it in. Off to add the sugar, then back to low to blend it in. Dump the rest of the cake ingredients in. Start on low to blend, then push it up to medium for 2 minutes. While the cake is mixing, grease and flour a tube pan (or spray it with Baker’s Joy). Stop the mixer and pour the batter into the pan. Bake at 350̊ for about 40 minutes and a cake tester comes out clean. Take the pan out of the oven and let it cool in the pan while you make the syrup, which the cake will soak and marinade in. |
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| Syrup | ||||
|
In a medium sauce pan, throw in all the
syrup ingredients. Turn the heat to medium-low. Simmer the mixture for
about 30 minutes stirring occasionally. The mix will reduce quite a bit.
Turn off the heat. Transfer the syrup to a medium Pyrex measuring cup
running the syrup through a fine mesh strainer. Stir and press all the
juice through. Discard (or eat) the orange bits with the cake top you’ll
cut off next! By now, the cake will probably have cooled enough to handle. During baking, the middle of the cake will have likely poofed up higher than the edges. This will be the bottom of the cake, so you’ll want it to sit flat. With a butter knife, cut around the edges of the cake to free it from the pan. Place a plate on top of the pan and flip the cake onto it. With a second plate, carefully re-flip the cake so it’s poofy side up again. With a serrated bread knife, cut the poofy top off. That’s your snack! Carefully double-flip the cake back in the pan, freshly cut side facing up again. Poke about a dozen holes in a ring around the middle of the cake. I like to use the handle of a wooden spoon. Be careful you don’t go all the way through and mess up your “show side.” Carefully and slowly pour the syrup over the cake filling up all those holes first and then and all over the cake. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter overnight (or at least 4 hours) to soak up that goodness. |
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| Shiny Glaze | ||||
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The next day it’s time to put on the
finishing touches. Cut around the sides of the cake in the pan and flip
the cake out onto your serving platter “show side” up. Drain the oranges
into a small saucepan through a colander or strainer. Save this juice!
Artistically place the orange wedges in a ring around the top of the
cake. Eat what won’t fit; another snack for the baker! In a small bowl, add a 1/4 cup of cold water. Sprinkle the gelatin powder on and stir it in. Set it aside for a few minutes to bloom. This primes it so it blends evenly later. Add the sugar to the small saucepan with the Mandarin orange juice. Put it on medium heat and bring it to a boil. Stir it to make sure all the sugar is dissolved. Turn the heat off and let the pot sit for about a minute to cool. VERY IMPORTANT: Boiling gelatin will render it ineffective! After a minute, dump the gelatin into the orange juice mixture and stir it with a spatula until all the gelatin is dissolved. Pour it into a Pyrex measuring cup and put it in the frig to cool. Stir it every 5 minutes to check the consistency. Too thin and it will run off; too thick and it won’t be brushable. If you over-cool it, just stick it in the microwave for 10 seconds and stir it up again. Paint the oranges on top of the cake and the sides of the cake with the gelatin mixture. This is Jell-O. If you put it on too thick you’ll end up with a cake helmet that will be chewy. You want a thin layer, just enough to cover and seal everything up and give you that shine. You won’t use all the gelatin. Put the cake in the frig for at least an hour to set before serving. |
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