It’s hard to go past a good orange and poppy seed cake and everyone will love this zesty flavour. Best of all it’s easy to whip up and in under 15 minutes, you can have this mixture in the oven while you sit back and relax while it bakes. Once it’s out of the oven and cooled, dust it with icing sugar or, if you’re feeling adventurous, make a delicious syrup sauce to pour on top. Serve with a dollop of thickened cream and enjoy!

Ingredients

• 50g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind, plus extra to serve
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1/3 cup reduced-fat milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 5cm-deep, 20cm round cake pan. Line with baking paper.
2. Combine butter, orange rind, sugar, eggs, flour, poppyseeds and milk in a large bowl and stir well.
3. Pour batter into pan. Use the back of a spoon to smoothen over top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or baked through. If the cake is over-browning during cooking, cover loosely with foil while baking. Leave to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4. Top with orange rind. Serve.