Orange Poppyseed Cake

This was the first experiment with oranges... I'm not sure why I hadn't tried this combination earlier.
With a light syrup which is fed into the cake whilst still, gives this a fabulous moist texture.  You can actually see from the photo below where there a little pockets of the yummy syrup inside.

Now for the yummy recipe.  This was the first I tried and I'm sure i'll be using it again...
I adapted the recipe slightly, but i'm sure the recipe as is with the vanilla essence as apposed to orange extract would be just as good!

Ingredients

375g plain flour

125ml milk (I used whole milk)

50g poppyseeds

220g caster sugar

1 teaspoon orange extract

3 eggs

2 teaspoons baking powder

Finely grated zest of 2 oranges

125ml freshly squeezed orange juice

Syrup

125ml freshly squeezed orange juice

50g caster sugar

20g butter

Zest of 2 oranges (optional, I didn't add this time around)

Method

1)Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.  Grease a 24cm cake pan and line with greaseproof paper.  

2) Place milk in bowl and add the poppyseeds.  Stand for 10-15minutes.

3) Beat the butter, sugar and orange extract in a bowl and mix until light and pale.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.  Gently fold in the zest, juice and poppyseed mixture.  Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture.  

4) Spoon mixture into the cake pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Cool the cake for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a plate/cake stand.

5) Whilst the cake is in the oven, place all the ingredients into a pan and heat on a medium heat, until the sugar has dissolved and the butter melts.  Turn up the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes.  Whilst the cake is still warm, insert holes into the cake with a skewer and pour over the hot syrup.  Also, add the zest if using.  This is delicious served warm, but tastes just as good once cool.