Walnut Orange and Poppy Seed Cake

July 23, 2019

"Walnut orange and poppy seed cake recipe is based on my favourite orange almond and poppy seed cake, that is a regular bake in our household. Though the recipe is nearly identical, the cake texture and taste are very different. Walnut meal has a lower fat content, compared to almond meal (31% and 55% respectively), meaning that it has higher percentage of dry matter that is favourable in cakes which tend to be soggy at times." -

You'll need:

150g sugar
2 extra large eggs, 105-115 g without shell
200g puree from cooked whole oranges with skin
150g Walnut Flour (35g of larger particles needed to be ground)
50g poppy seeds

extra

butter for the pan
caster sugar for the pan
7-8 walnuts
orange glaze (or apricot jam with smooth texture)

Method:

place whole oranges with skin in cold water, cook until boiling point and simmer for 1 hour until soft through (time depends on type of oranges used)
cut oranges in quarters, discard pips and hard parts, let them cool, cut in chunks and blend into smooth puree
I cook the whole pot of oranges, make puree and freeze it in 200g portions
put walnut meal through a sieve
add poppy seeds to walnut meal and combine ingredients with a whisk
lightly grease sheet of baking paper with butter, place it on a bottom of 19cm springform baking pan
grease sides circle with butter and dust with caster sugar
assemble the pan with baking paper fixed by sides circle
chop walnuts
beat eggs with sugar for 4-8 minutes (depending on mixer/whisk attachment of stick blender) until pale and nearly triple in volume
add orange puree to beaten eggs and mix it in with a whisk
add dry ingredients to wet, combine with a whisk
pour/spoon the batter into prepared tin
apply chopped walnuts on top of the batter
bake 60 minutes in 165C fan forced oven, I like to bake nut meal cakes from just warm oven, I turn the oven on to 165C fan and wait until temperature gets to 95-100C and place baking tin on a middle shelf
when a cake is ready its sides slightly separate from the tin
take the sides circle of the springform and let the cake rest on a bottom
warm orange glaze or apricot jam (those with tart taste are better)
gently and generously brush the top of the cake when it is still warm
let the cake rest until completely cool
alternatively dust the cake with icing sugar
the cake can sink a little in the middle when cooling down, if the batter is too runny, that can happen because of extra large eggs or too runny orange puree used, to avoid this effect use extra 10g of walnut meal for runny orange puree
transfer the cake to a serving plate/board using baking paper beneath the cake
serve the cake and enjoy, whipped cream with a few drops of vanilla extract takes the experience to out of this world level