Growing up, even though my dad loved oranges, I was impartial to them. A few years ago, when I was in Piedmont, Italy, there were these freshly made croissants served at breakfast. They were warm, perfumed with the bright citrus scent of oranges. I bit into them and the delicious buttery flavour of those Italian brioche croissants with ribbons of orange marmalade awe struck me. I had an eureka moment. I suddenly understood my dad’s love for oranges. This cake is an ode to my dad’s love for oranges. Hope you’ll enjoy them too.
Some notes: If you don’t have ground cardamom, you may substitute for clove, cinnamon, the spice of your choice, also chia seeds may be used to substitute poppy seeds. If you have cocoa nibs, you can also add in 10g of it.
Ingredients:
150g butter (soften)
Zest of 2 oranges
250g caster sugar
3 eggs (room temp.)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200g flour
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup yogurt (room temp.)
8g poppy seeds
Method:
-Heat oven to 150degC, fan forced.
-Add orange zest to butter. Whip the butter till you get a creamy consistency, add sugar in parts and continue mixing, till you get a lighter yellow cream but with sugar crystals. Don’t worry about them.
– Add in eggs one by one and make sure to just mix till they are incorporated, then add in the vanilla extract.Whisk together your flour, cardamom and baking soda, then sieve them together.
– Add the flour mixture in 3 parts to your batter, alternate with yogurt in 2 parts. After each addition, mix them light handedly to just incorporate them. You should get the consistency in the photo below.
-Lastly, add in the poppy seeds and stir them in.
– Grease a loaf pan, fill it up until it’s around 2cm from the top. Bake. It takes around 40mins. – You know it’s ready when the cake shrinks slightly from the side of the tin and when you touch the top in the middle, it springs back. If that doesn’t inspire confidence, use a skewer to insert and make sure it comes out clean. Always insert in the middle.
-Cool in your tin and serve with creme fraiche/ yogurt or just have it as it is.
Dreaming in Flavours 