Whether you call it a tea cake or bread, this Orange Poppy Seed Bundt Cake recipe is a keeper. It’s buttery, moist and the sweet almond glaze locks in the freshness.
#MyVintageRecipe is a series that documents the anthropology of food one recipe at a time. My hope is that these stories will help us better understand how the food we eat plays a vital role in our personal lives and tells a larger story about the cultural impacts of food traditions. Every recipe has a story. Do you have one to tell? Email me at kitty@vintagekitty.com
I’m so excited to share another #myvintagerecipe feature with you! Just like the recipe for Foolproof Pie Crust, this gem comes from my mom Suzanne’s recipe box. The story is so cute I know you’re going to love this Orange Poppy Seed Bundt Cake recipe before you even taste it!
Cue the dream music taking us back to the 1980s. I’m attending Herndon Elementary School in Virginia and I’m probably 6 or 7? I only attended this school for a few years… so in the 1982-85 range?
I have a dorky bob with long bangs and most of my clothes looked like something that Ernie the puppet would wear. Hideous stripes were in and most of the girls didn’t look much different from the boys….unless you were wearing a dress for picture day…for some reason they almost all had high Victorian collars and a hideous plaid.
But I digress. I was young and what do young kids do? Go to cheesy school fairs. You know the kind of thing….dunk tanks, pony rides and games to raise money for the PTA or library books.
So, we’re at the Herndon Elementary school fair and my mom, bless her heart, made us all do the cake walk until we each had a cake to take home. Overkill right? But my tiny, just under 5 feet tall mom inherited the family sweet tooth and wanted ALL THE CAKE.
Round and round I went until I landed on a winning number. I don’t remember having fun or even which cake I won…but I sure enjoyed sampling the cakes!
One of the cakes we won that day was this Orange Poppy Seed Bundt Cake. And the person that baked it was kind enough to attach the recipe!
The cake was delicious with a pound cake texture and flavored with an orange almond glaze. I remember mom making the cake often because it was an easy recipe plus great for family events, potlucks… anytime you need a cake that will feed more than 12 people.
Last year I asked my mom for the recipe and I was shocked to find out she copied it down to another recipe card and threw out the original card that came with the cake. Other than the recipe, I’m not sure if the baker left their name, where they found the recipe or any other details.
Oh well…spilled milk, right? So, I popped on the internet and found what I thought was the same recipe on Taste of Home with the title Contest Winning Poppy Seed Bundt Cake.
I baked the bundt cake and it was just like I remembered… citrusy and just sweet enough with a lovely crust on the outside. My only issue was the butter flavoring, because I’m not fond of fake flavors. So, I made a few small tweaks to the recipe and was ready to publish….
Then mom finally sent her recipe and turns out it’s slightly different than the recipe from Taste of Home!
So, I went back to ye old internet to see if I could find out more. I discovered four other iterations of the cake, all using almond extract, butter flavoring and milk.
- The oldest was submitted to the Lawrence Journal-World in 1985 by Stephanie Lobb and is titled Poppy Seed Loaf Delight.
- Then in 1989 it shows up as Alleen’s Poppy Seed Bread in the Mount Airy News. The article is about Alleen Marshall, a beautician with a shop on Main Street.
- In 2001, a Poppy Seed Tea Cake recipe is submitted to the McCook Daily Gazette by Connie Jo Discoe.
- Finally, in 2005, a child named Jordan Ballack wins the Douglas County Fair with a Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake.
With similar recipes in Maryland, Virginia, Kansas and Nebraska, was the original recipe published in a cookbook? If so, I couldn’t find it online. I looked in vintage recipe databases, some old cookbooks, vintage baking ads but found no mention of this cake before 1985.
I’m at a dead end, so it’s a great opportunity to crowd source this lovely recipe. Let’s do some recipe sleuthing together! Can you help track down the person who baked this cake for the Herndon Elementary School Fair? You, my awesome readers, might be able to fill in the gaps in the story.
Do you know someone who had a child that attended Herndon Elementary in the 1980s? Or possibly someone who taught there?
Maybe you have a copy of this recipe? If so, where did you find it? Send me your clues!
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with my version of this recipe. I didn’t change much because it’s a great recipe to start with! The first thing I did was eliminate the butter flavoring in favor of real butter, both in the cake and the glaze. I think it made a more airy crumb and the glaze a little more thick.
I also added orange zest to the batter because I used freshly squeezed orange juice in the glaze. My mom likes to use orange juice concentrate, which is great too, but I never have it on hand and almost always have oranges in the refrigerator. And because booze is awesome, so I added a little orange liqueur to the glaze to deepen the citrus flavor.
Subtle changes, but’s it’s pretty much the same delicious, easy to make cake that’s perfect for holiday parties and potlucks! Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we have over the years!
Poppy Seed Bundt Cake Tips
- This cake needs to bake a long time, so don’t be surprised if it needs an extra 5-15 minutes.
- You’ll know it’s done when the cake starts to pull away from the pan. So don’t rely on the toothpick test. If it’s not pulling away, it’s likely to stick.
- Don’t let the cake cool in the pan, not only will it bake longer, it’s likely to stick. Let it rest 5 minutes and then flip it over onto a cooling rack.
- The cake should fall out on it’s own. don’t bang the pan or it might crack.
- I borrowed a friend’s Pampered Chef Bundt pan which made a really crunchy, delicious crust!
- I cut off the hump on the bottom of the cake to accentuate the bundt shape. This also helps the cake absorb the glaze that pools on the plate.
- Speaking of cake plates, choose one with a lip and glaze the cake on it and not a cooling rack. You want every drop of that liquid gold to be absorbed into the cake!
Orange Poppy Seed Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups all purpose flour (13.5oz)
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- ½ cup butter (room temperature)
- zest of one orange
- 2½ cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1½ cups whole milk (room temperature)
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ teaspoons almond extract
Glaze
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- ¾ cup confectioners sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 tablespoon orange brandy
- 1 teaspoon butter
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease and flour a 12 cup bundt pan.
- In a bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds.
- Stir together the milk and extracts.
- Cream together the butter, orange zest and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Slowly drizzle in the oil while mixing, then add the eggs and whip until pale, about a minute.
- Add the flour and milk mixtures in five additions starting and ending with the flour. Scrape the bowl as needed and don't over mix!
- Pour cake batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 60-70 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out cleanly. but it's also important that the cake begin to pull away from the pan a bit.
- Let cake cool for five minutes, then turn cake over on a cooling rack and let it slowly release.
Glaze
- Once cake has cooled, combine the orange juice and confectioners sugar in a small sauce pan.
- Bring the glaze to a boil while constantly stirring.
- Turn off the heat and add the extracts, brandy and butter and stir until the butter is melted.
- Place bundt cake on a cake plate with a lip and pour glaze over cake.
Notes
- This cake needs to bake a long time, so don’t be surprised if it needs an extra 5-15 minutes.
- You’ll know it’s done when the cake starts to pull away from the pan. So don’t rely on the toothpick test. If it’s not pulling away, it’s likely to stick.
- Don’t let the cake cool in the pan, not only will it bake longer, it’s likely to stick. Let it rest 5 minutes and then flip it over onto a cooling rack.
- The cake should fall out on it’s own. don’t bang the pan or it make crack.
- I cut off the hump on the bottom of the cake to accentuate the bundt shape. This also helps the cake absorb the glaze that pools on the plate.
- Speaking of cake plates, choose one with a lip and glaze the cake on it and not a cooling rack. You want every drop of that liquid gold to be absorbed into the cake!
Nutrition
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Ann says
Orange and poppy? Hmm, quite interesting combination to taste! I’ve tried a lemon and poppy sweet bread before but the recipe was not so perfect and the cake turned out to be too oily, I don’t like fatty dishes… I am definitely going to cook your cake this weekend and I already foresee it will taste great and smell stunningly! Thank you for your blog, the photos are super appetizing, I appreciate that ♥
Vintage Kitty says
Thanks for you kind words Ann. Let me know how the cake baking goes!
Nicole says
My husbands grandmother used to grow poppy’s and I have a jar of the seeds from her harvests and this would be a great recipe to use them in. Good lunch with finding the original recipe. The internet is a magical place sometimes, so I have my fingers crossed you find what you’re looking for. I’ve never tried an orange+poppyseed cake before, just lemon, but I’m a huge fan of citrus, so I need to give this a go!
Vintage Kitty says
How special! I wonder if the seeds would still germinate. Would be very nice to pass down the seeds through the generations!
Heather says
This cake looks super moist! And I’ve made a lemon bundt cake but never with orange. Can’t wait to try – especially with the crunch of poppy seeds!
Vintage Kitty says
You’re going to love it Heather!
Lizzy says
This looks so moist! Bundt cakes are alway so impressive when you remove them from the pan. And I’m digging the flavor combo, can’t wait to try.
Vintage Kitty says
When they come out of the pan! I’ve had some catastrophes over the years! But when they do, it is always a thrill!
Jamie says
I’m loving the story behind this orange poppy seed bundt cake! I’m a huge fan of citrus cakes so I’m definitely making this this weekend and looking forward to the glaze!
Vintage Kitty says
Isn’t it sweet? Hope you love it Jamie!
Maggie says
This Orange Poppy Seed Bundt Cake is mouth watering! I love that it’s buttery, moist and the sweet almond glaze locks in the freshness is just so perfect. I am definitely craving right now
Vintage Kitty says
You deserve to eat cake Maggie! Make it!
Tammy says
Your photos are stunning and this cake sounds like heaven! There is something really lovely about citrus fruits and poppy seeds…I love the closeup shots too where I can see the seeds. Save me a slice!
Vintage Kitty says
It’s waiting for you ;-)
Linda says
Like you, I enjoy sampling cake. I mean somebody always needs a taste tester, right? And this poppy seed bundt cake is one of those cakes I need to bake soon!
Vintage Kitty says
Exactly! Bring on all the cake!
Jacqui Debono says
Love all of your cake recipes, but this might be a favourite!
Vintage Kitty says
You’re so sweet! Enjoy!
Soohie says
This looks super delicious and fluffy. I love such cake recipes. Adding to my to-do list.
Vintage Kitty says
I agree. The crumb has to be just right. Let me know how it goes!
SHANIKA says
This Bundt Cake looks amazing! I love the story behind it—-winning this at a Cake Walk? Now that’s a memorable moment! It’s so amazing that you were able to get recipe! I’d love to try this!
Vintage Kitty says
Yes, definitely the most memorable way to get a recipe! Try it for sure. You’ll love it!
Christine Cham says
I don’t see number of eggs that are required in the recipe although it is mentioned in the method to add eggs
Vintage Kitty says
Thanks for catching that Christine! I’ve updated the recipe card.