Thursday, March 13, 2014

Blood Orange Poppy Seed Cake

 

I think I’m going to continue to share my blood orange obsession with you-I have yet another one!  The other one will have to wait for next week as I will share what I made for St. Patrick’s Day firstJ  SOO excited for you guys to see what it is!  Lots of sweets coming up on the blog-can’t wait! ^-^ 

Over the past weekend I decided to make this cake-and it’s gorgeous!  We had dinner at my mother in laws and my parents came too.  Naturally, I HAD to made a cake.  Any excuse I can get! What can I say-I have a serious baking addiction.   I adore anything citrus so of course I loved this cake:)  It is fairly dense, but the orange zest gives it a delicious flavor.  It reminded me of my cranberry orange poppyseed cookies.  The two cake layers are sandwiched in-between a blood orange & white chocolate filling.  Oh boy, oh boy!  It balances out the cake nicely & and gives it an irresistible flavor.  If your looking for a good cake, look no further:D

Blood Orange Poppy Seed Cake

Makes 1 6-inch round cake {2 layers}

INGREDIENTS

for the cake:

2 1⁄3 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 blood orange, zested

1 tablespoon black poppy seeds

4 eggs, at room temperature

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 ½ cup sugar

for the filling:

1/2 cup sugar

juice of 1 blood orange

2 egg yolks, at room temperature

8 tablespoons butter, in small cubes

3 ounces white chocolate, chopped finely

¾ cup whipping cream

for the topping:

1 ½ cups whipping cream

1-2 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar

DIRECTIONS

for the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 six-inch spring foam pans.

In a medium sized bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together-flour, baking soda, blood orange zest & poppy seeds.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg & sugar until pale & frothy. Add the melted butter & combine all the dry ingredients until well incorporated.

Distribute the batter evenly between the two cake pans.

Bake on the bottom oven rack for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester is inserted in the middle and comes out clean.

Let the cake cools for 15 minutes & remove them from the pans. Let them cool completely.

for the filling:

In a medium saucepan, bring the blood orange juice & sugar into a pot & bring to a boil until the sugar is completely dissolved.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk the eggs together. Add the sugar-orange liquid in a thin stream to the egg yolks. Pour the mixture back to the pot & heat carefully until the liquid thickens, stirring often.

Take the top off the heat & add cubed butter & the white chocolate. Cool to room temperature.

Whip the cream into a thick froth & incorporate it into the blood orange mixture.

for the topping:

Whip the whipping cream with a tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar until soft, thick peaks form.

assembly:

Spread the white chocolate & orange cream between the layers. Frost the entire cake with the whipped cream.

Source: adapted from Sweet Paul Eats