Orange Poppy Seed Cake with Mascarpone Frosting

Tender Orange Poppy Seed Cake layers with a scrumptious mascarpone frosting. The right mixture of three distinctive flavors.

Each time I make a cheese based mostly frosting, I swear it will likely be my final. They’re SO troublesome to work with. I do know I may make them extra secure, however I’d should both add extra cheese or extra sugar — neither of which I need to do. So I’m caught with a scrumptious tasting however much less secure frosting. It’s what it’s.

Truthfully, the one purpose I hold making them is as a result of they style so good. Not too tacky, not too candy, they usually complement sure desserts simply completely. Like this Orange Poppy Seed Cake!

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I’ve had a lemon poppy seed cake on my radar for some time now. I’ve a Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt (which was scrumptious), however I’d been which means to make it right into a layer cake for a while. Alas, it bought pushed off but once more as a result of I assumed orange poppy seed could be a extra attention-grabbing and distinctive taste to attempt. In case you’d reasonably do lemon, you may swap it in simply sufficient.

What sort of oranges ought to I take advantage of?

I’m not an knowledgeable on oranges. I’ve at the moment been consuming my approach by means of luggage of flavorful mandarins, however in any other case oranges are by no means a staple round right here. In case you’re an orange knowledgeable and have a favourite, go together with what you like. In any other case, good outdated navel oranges will work. Blood orange would work nicely too! I used Cava Cava Navel. 

Make this Orange Poppy Seed Cake

This cake makes use of my favourite Vanilla Cake recipe as a base. I merely changed a few of the milk with orange juice and added orange zest and poppy seeds.

It’s a bit more durable to get orange taste to return by means of than lemon — it’s much less potent total. You possibly can use an extract, but when you understand me in any respect you understand I choose to make use of pure flavors when potential, and solely use an extract when there’s actually no different choice. The important thing to getting that orange taste to shine by means of is within the zest. By no means skip the zest!

By the way in which, should you’re in search of a great zester, those from Microplane are the very best. You get a superfine zest with none of the pith. Works like a attraction each time.

One other approach so as to add flavour is to make use of a easy syrup. Brushing the cake layers with an orange flavored easy syrup will add taste and in addition moisture to you cake.

For the poppy seeds, I toss them with my flour combination. I discover that is best, and there’s much less threat of over-mixing the batter reasonably than should you have been so as to add them on the finish.

Make Mascarpone Frosting

This mascarpone frosting goes so nicely with this orange poppy seed cake! It’s delicate and never overpowering like a cream cheese frosting could be, but it surely provides it a novel and scrumptious taste.

I gained’t bore you with the small print about how annoying the frosting was to work with — the bare cake I ended up going with ought to be a sign of how issues went (lol).

I meant to totally frost this cake and do one thing rustic with the edges, however that was a complete fail. The frosting was each delicate and filled with air bubbles, and all makes an attempt to make an “simple” rustic swirl have been futile. I ended up scraping the entire thing off and letting the gorgeous poppy seed studded sides shine by means of.

The frosting recipe makes sufficient to cowl the entire cake although, and I’d advocate doing that as a result of it’s so scrumptious. Possibly you’ll have higher luck adorning than I did?

Styling inspo for this cake got here from the stunning MaryAnne over at Little Epicurean. Can I simply say how comfortable I used to be to search out mandarin oranges with the leaves nonetheless hooked up?! Non-shriveled leaves at that. 

This cake didn’t final lengthy round right here. I needed to cease myself from inhaling a complete slice as I used to be cleansing the kitchen afterwards. Have I discussed I’ve a weak point for citrus desserts?? I hope you like this cake recipe as a lot as I do!

On the lookout for extra Citrus Desserts?

Orange Poppy Seed Cake with Mascarpone Buttercream

Tender Orange Poppy Seed Cake layers with a scrumptious mascarpone frosting.

Course Dessert

Delicacies American

Prep Time 2 hours

Cook dinner Time 30 minutes

Whole Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Servings 12

Energy 806kcal

Elements 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

Orange Poppy Seed Cake:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp poppy seeds
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp orange zest from 1-2 giant oranges
• 3 giant eggs room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup milk room temperature
• 1/4 cup orange juice recent squeezed, from 1/2 a big orange

Orange Easy Syrup:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup orange juice recent squeezed, from one giant orange

Mascarpone Buttercream:

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese softened however barely chilled, 250g container
• 4 cups powdered sugar sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla

Meeting:

• orange slices elective
• orange leaves elective
• poppy seeds elective

Directions 

Orange Poppy Seed Cake:

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 8″ cake rounds and line with parchment.

• In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, poppy seeds, and salt. Put aside.

• Utilizing a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and orange zest on med-high till pale and fluffy (about 3mins). Scale back pace and add eggs one after the other absolutely incorporating after every addition. Add vanilla.

• Alternate including flour combination and milk & orange juice, starting and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and a pair of of milk & orange juice). Absolutely incorporating after every addition.

• Bake for 25-30 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out largely clear.

• Place desserts on wire rack to chill for 10mins then end up onto wire rack to chill fully.

Mascarpone Buttercream:

• Beat butter till clean. Slowly add in powdered sugar (1/2 cup at a time). Add vanilla and beat on med-high for 5mins.
  

• Add mascarpone cheese and beat simply till clean and mixed. Don’t overbeat.
  

Meeting:

• Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Brush with 2-3 Tbsp easy syrup. Prime with roughly 1 cup of buttercream, unfold evenly. 

• Repeat with remaining layer and apply a skinny layer of frosting throughout to crumb coat the cake. Chill for 20mins. You may depart the cake bare or absolutely frost the cake after chilling if desired.
  

• Beautify the highest with recent orange slices, orange leaves, and poppy seeds if desired.

Energy: 806kcalCarbohydrates: 95gProtein: 7gFats: 46gSaturated Fats: 28gPolyunsaturated Fats: 2gMonounsaturated Fats: 10gTrans Fats: 1gLdl cholesterol: 158mgSodium: 139mgPotassium: 194mgFiber: 1gSugar: 75gVitamin A: 1455IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 122mgIron: 2mg

The dietary info and metric conversions are calculated mechanically. I can not assure the accuracy of this information. If that is vital to you, please confirm together with your favourite diet calculator and/or metric conversion software.

This publish was initially printed on 04/12/19 and was up to date with new content material on 01/06/22.