A light fragrant orange sponge speckled with toasted poppy seeds, layered with a delicious coconut orange cream, fresh strawberries and blueberries.
Cake Ingredients
– 250g self-raising flour
– 250g unsalted butter
– 250g golden caster sugar
– 4 large eggs
– zest of 1 unwaxed orange
– 3 tbsp of poppy seeds
Method
1. Preheat oven to 160c (fan oven) or 180c (conventional oven), line and prepare two 6 inch circle tins with baking parchment.
2. Heat the poppy seeds on a dry pan for approx. 1 minute or until aromatic.
3. Cream the butter and golden caster sugar together in a large stand mixer (with a paddle attachment) or with a hand held mixer until pale in colour.
4. Grate and add the orange zest to the sugar/butter and mix until just incorporated.
5. Slowly add the eggs (add a tablespoon of flour if the mixture begins to curdle).
6. Add the flour. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for approx. 1 minute.
7. Fold in the poppy seeds.
8. Evenly divide the cake mix between the two cake tins and bake for approx. 30/40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool in the tins for approx. 10 minutes then remove and leave on a wire rack to cool completely.
Syrup Ingredients
– juice of 1 orange (approx. 65ml)
– 65g of golden caster sugar
Method
1. Heat the orange juice and sugar in a pot until the sugar granules have completely dissolved.
2. Pour into a sterilized jar and leave to cool.
Cream Filling Ingredients
– 200ml of full fat coconut flavoured Greek yoghurt
– 200ml of full fat crème fraiche
– 1 tsp of orange zest (from the orange used for the syrup)
– 300g of fresh strawberries
– 175g of fresh blueberries
– extra poppy seeds to garnish
Method & Cake Assembly
1. Beat the yoghurt, crème fraiche and orange zest together until a thick and spreadable consistency is achieved.
2. Once cool cut two layers of cake from each of the two cakes – you should end up with 4 layers of cake.
3. Brush the cake layers with plenty of the orange syrup.
4. Stack the cakes with the cream filling, strawberries and blueberries, finishing with a layer on top.
5. Sprinkle the top with some poppy seeds and decorate with some leftover berries.
6. Let the cake sit for approx. 1 hour before slicing.
One of RTE’s ‘Domestic Divas’, Cat Lawlor is an award winning baker and wedding cake designer. A former psychology graduate, Cat regularly enjoyed baking cupcakes for family and friends (she was given her first cook book at the age of 3!)and what started off as a love for all things sweet soon became a cake obsession. Her business ‘The Cake Cuppery’ has become a well-known cake studio based in Lucan, Co. Dublin. Her work has been featured on TV3, RTE1 and in numerous publications including; Confetti, Irish Brides, VIP and The Irish Wedding Journal.
