Orange Poppy Seed Bread/Cake

Me + this cake = Love at first luscious bite! I am a big fan of a good poppy seed muffin or bread (I am especially fond of those GIANT Costco poppy seed muffins). This bread recipe takes everything that I love about those muffins (the moist texture, the lovely crunch of poppy seeds) and takes it to the next level by adding a sweet, fresh, orange juice glaze. This bread is, in a word, FANTASTIC. In some other words... scrumptious, tender, decadent, need I go on?

Orange Poppy Seed Cake-Bread

Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

*Makes 2 loaves (8 X 4 1/2-inch loaf pans), I made one loaf and two mini loaves.

Bread Ingredients

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar

3 cups flour(I didn't realize until too late that I only had 2 cups of all purpose flour left, so I used 2 cups white flour and one cup wheat flour. It made it a bit denser but I liked the texture it gave.)

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups fat free half and half

1 tablespoon melted butter (for flavor)

3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 tablespoons poppy seeds

Glaze:

1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 tablespoon melted butter

Line the bottom of the loaf pans with waxed or parchment paper and then grease and flour the entire loaf pan well. This part is quite important or else it WILL stick! For a tutorial on how to grease and flour a pan go here.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs and oil.

In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, salt and baking powder.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the egg/oil mixture and whisk to combine.

Add 1/2 of the half-and-half and stir together. Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the last half of the half-and-half and stir.

Finally add the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix.

Add the vanilla, butter, and poppy seeds and mix well.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans, filling about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 60 minutes checking often the last 10 minutes of baking to ensure the bread doesn’t over bake (the mini-loafs baked in about 45 minutes while the larger one took much longer, about 65 minutes). When completely baked, a toothpick inserted in the middle should pull out moist crumbs but not wet batter.

While the bread is baking, combine the glaze and ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Let the bread sit in the pan for five minutes. Run a thin-edged knife around the edges of the bread and carefully remove the bread from the pans onto a wire rack set atop a layer of paper towels or a cookie tray.

Brush the tops of the bread with the glaze while the bread is still warm. Continue brushing and/or gently pouring until all the glaze is on the bread.

Cool completely before slicing.

mmmm, carbs make me happy☺

Have a splendid weekend!