Orange Poppy Seeds Cake

Another cake recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2. This cake is really moist and crunchy of the poppy seeds. I reduced the sugar for the syrup to half a cup which turned out well for me. I didn't taste much of the orange flavour in this cake. Maybe the next time I will just use lemon.

Ingredients :
1/4 cup poppy seeds
3/4 cup milk
200g butter, softened
2 tbsp finely grated orange rind
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Place the poppy seeds and milk in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
2. Place the butter, orange rind and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and beat well.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder over the butter mixture and add the orange juice and poppy seed and milk mixture. Stir to combine and spoon into a baking pan lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
5. While the cake is baking, make the syrup. Place the sugar, orange juice and orange rind in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat and boil for 5-6 minutes or until syrup thicken.
6. Pour the hot syrup over the hot cake. Set aside to cool.