For citrus lovers

I bought some more bakeware the other day. In fact, I have so much bakeware that they don't have a proper home at the moment. They're just sitting.. in uh.. the lounge room on the coffee table. Yeah, I know. It's good that visitors don't drop by often! :P

I got some loaf pans, assorted mini bakeware and a small springform. Oh, and a pizza base pan too! So now I can make pizza too. Haha. :)

Anyway, back to this bake. I haven't baked for a while. I kept thinking what I wanted to bake, and was deciding whether to do something with apples or citrus. And I chose citrus! I love citrus fruits. I still had 2 red grapefruits in the house so I decided to make use of them.. along with some oranges and a lemon from our backyard. Our lemon tree is quite small, and only gives us a few lemons each time. I miss our old lemon tree. It was like the centrepiece of the backyard in my childhood house. Beautiful, large and bearing many lemons. Oh, I miss that tree. I miss that house. I want to be a little kid again..


Three citrus poppyseed cake
Makes a large loaf size

the grated peel of 2 oranges
the juice and pulp of 2 oranges
the grated peel of 2 large red grapefruit
the juice and pulp of 1 large red grapefruit
(I had 1 1/2 cups juice overall)

2 cups plain flour (should use 1/2 cup more flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup poppyseeds

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup corn oil

Sift and mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and poppyseeds in a large mixing bowl.
Then add in the juices, peel, milk, egg and oil.
Use an electric mixer to mix until combined.
Pour into a lined or greased large loaf pan.
Bake in a preheated oven at 175C for 52 minutes or until cooked (poke with skewer to check)

Remove and allow to cool before drizzling with glaze.


Lemon glaze

the grated peel of 1 small lemon
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice (it was all the lemon gave me)
1/2 tsp milk
4-5tbsp icing sugar

Mix together until smooth and drizzle over cake.
Sprinkle with left over lemon peel.


Allow to set before serving. It's pretty cold tonight, and the glaze has set pretty fast. Haha~
I'll see what it tastes like tomorrow. Right now, I know that it smells nice. :) Hopefully it's edible!


Well, unfortunately... it was a bit dense (higher liquid to flour ratio yet again). :( But the flavours were good! Strong citrus flavour (You probably won't like it if you don't like citrus much). Just the way I like it! :D Mmm.. yummy lemon glaze.

Overall, I'm disappointed but satisfied. :) Hopefully it will be better next time!

Orange poppyseed cupcakes

My sister wanted to bake something to bring to work for her birthday. So I gave her some suggestions. "Orange poppyseed cupcakes?" "Sure! Do you have a recipe?" "Umm. Hold on a second and I'll conjure one up for you.." Haha. So I made up a verbal recipe for her, and it turned out disastrous!


Orange poppyseed cupcakes
Makes about 44 cupcakes

3 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup corn flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup poppyseeds
1 1/3 cup sugar (I believe this is too much sugar. I'd say only use 3/4 - 1 cup only)

1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice/pulp (I would suggest switching the amount of milk with the amount of orange juice and vice versa instead, for a more orangey taste)
grated orange rind
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 165C.

Sift flours, baking powder, sugar and poppyseed together.
In another mixing bowl, mix milk, orange juice, orange rind, egg yolks and oil together.

Beat the egg whites in another bowl until stiff peaks have formed.

Mix the milk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined. Fold in the egg whites.

Scoop into greased muffin tins or cupcake lined tins, until about 3/4 full.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until cooked.

Remove and allow to cool on a cooling rack before serving.


They.. turned out yellow and nowhere near orange! I did tell her to add more orange juice as her liquid.. but nooo.. she couldn't be bothered juicing another orange for its juice. -__- I informed her. It's her own fault!

The texture was quite good, but I found them just a tad sweet and barely had an orange flavour. So it was quite disappointing. I'd like to make my own orange poppyseed cupcakes/muffins. I like them. I see the gigantic ones at uni for $2.50 and am tempted to buy one until I tell myself that I can make my own ones freshly (one day). Oh well. I'll bake my own one day, with the orange glaze/icing and all. :)