Blood Orange Chia Cake

Another cake to enjoy with a cuppa tea if you so wish.

I won't fib, this is really a Lemon Poppy Seed Drizzle blinged up.  The Lemon is replaced with seasonal Blood Oranges and the Poppy seeds replaced with the trendy chia seeds.  After all chia seeds are the new poppy seed!

Vegan Orange and Lemon Poppyseed Cake Again

I've made vegan lemon and orange poppy seed cake many times in the past, see here and here; even Orange and Poppyseed Waffles.  So why on earth would I make the cake again?

because I'm need more zingy citrus inspiration.  In stead I find myself following some trusty old recipes.  Still these were very enjoyable to eat.  

   The only thing missing, was a bit of icing drizzle - maybe next time. 

Vegan Lemon and Orange Poppy seed Cake

Another one from last years unblogged archive of photographs and recipes.  For some reason, these vegan Lemon Poppy seed cakes are not as popular as my vegan Chocolate cakes, maybe I just need to gussy them up with some glaze, icing or frosting.  I've even considered slicing them in two and filling it with lemon curd, but then it would not be suitable for vegans.  I still continue to make them, hoping that their lightness and gently sweetness will win some hearts, but no - they tend to get ignored.

I often make these vegan Lemon in mini loaf pans and it yields 12 mini loafs, but you can try and make one large tray bake . As for the Vegan Orange Poppy seed Cake in little round baking tins, a little more appealing to the eyes. 

I honestly don't know where I acquired the recipe, I found it a scrappy hand-written A4 paper tucked in one of my early vegan cookbooks: 365 plus one Vegan Recipes reprinted as Easy Vegan Cooking.  Anyway, I've adapted this recipe a little further, just by substituting the lemon juice with fresh orange juice.

I am still having problems downloading images onto my blog, this images for this blog entry had been uploaded last week.

A2K Vegan Lemon or Orange Poppy seed Cake
Yields 12 mini loafs
Ingredients
460g plain flour
300g golden caster sugar
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt
450ml water
275ml vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest or orange zest
Juice from 2 lemons or from 2 oranges
40g poppy seeds
A2K Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 4/180
Line a 9 x 13 inch baking tin or 12 mini loaf tins.
Combine the first 4 dry ingredients together, then stir in the wet ingredients and zest.  Gently and evenly fold in the poppy seeds.  Carefully pour into baking tin/s and bake for 20 - 25 minutes for the smaller versions or 35 - 40 minutes for larger cake.  Bake until golden, risen and firm to the touch.  These are best eaten within a couple of days

Lemon Barley and Honey Scones

These barley flour scones were made a little while ago, around the same time I made the Courgette and Apricot Barley Muffins. Its was in an attempt to use the barley flour my mother had given me last year.

Baking with barley flour is relatively new to me, so if any of you have a good recipe to share with me, it would be most appreciated, as I am wishing to expand my barley flour recipe repertoire.

For now, may I present you with these 'Lemon Barley and Honey Scones'.

These won't immediately win you over, but please persevere with them.  You may find yourself actually liking them.  The texture of the barley flour is certainly very different and one that may be appreciated with time.  I certainly enjoyed them a lot more a couple of days later.  The texture of the scones were very light and almost mille feuille pastry like, lots of layers as you bite in. 

What does make a big difference to these scones is a drizzling of lemon icing, then these scones melt in you mouth like good, buttery shortbread.

Lemon Barley and Honey Scones with Poppy seeds
Makes 10
Ingredients
200g barley flour, plus extra for rolling and
2 tablespoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda
½ teaspoon salt
50g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 teaspoon poppy seeds
100ml milk
2 tablespoons clear honey
Zest and Juice from 1 small lemon

Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 6.
Put the flour, baking powder, soda and salt into a bowl.  Then add in the chopped butter and rub with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then stir in the poppy seeds and lemon zest. 
Stir the honey into the milk, then pour into the crumbly flour mix.  Add half of the lemon juice and knead briefly to combine.  Then tip the scone mixture into a lightly floured surface, and roll out about 1 inch thickness .  Using a round cookie cutter, cut out 10 -13 shapes (pinch the ends to resemble a lemon if you wish). and place them carefully on a baking sheet.  Brush with remaining lemon juice and bake in the oven for 16 - 18 minutes.  Best eaten within a few days.
Optional: Make a lemon icing and drizzle over the scones, allow to set before serving.

Orange and Poppy Seed Waffles

For some reason, I've had Orange and poppy seed cake on my mind, but I didn''t want to make another cake so soon after the Chocolate and Chilli cake, so a compromise was made and I created these 'Orange and Poppy seed Waffles' for breakfast instead. 

Click the photograph above and you'll see the poppy seeds, as for the orange - well I had to plonk a slice of orange on the waffles below to demonstrate its content and deep orangy flavour. 

This is how we had them, served simply with a handful of berries from the garden.  Yes there are some wild strawberries and blueberries there and the remnants from the juiced orange - all diced up.  If you wish you could have stirred in some diced pieces of orange into the waffle mix too - it would have given it more flavour and texture.  If you don't fancy the orange, you can easily substitute it with a lemon, just go easy on the lemon juice unless of course you like it zingy.

I am sharing these with Relax and Surf Sundays hosted by Shibley Smiles and Simple Lives Thursday#55 hosted by gnowfglins and friends. 

Orange and Poppy seed Waffles
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 eggs, beaten
350ml/1½ cups milk
60ml/1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Orange zest
3 - 4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
250g/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
1 - 1½ teaspoon black poppy seeds
Method
In a bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. In another bowl, stir together the dry ingredients including the poppy seeds. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine well. Add more milk if necessary. Cook according to your waffle maker instructions.

Carrots in a Poppy seed Flan

You will know when I have too much time on my hands, when I start playing with my food.  Something my father would disapprove of, but I hope he will forgive me this time as I'm just looking for a little sunshine and some smiles.

The sliced carrots in this savoury Carrot flan represent bursts of sun ray; maybe even petals from a flower.  This Carrot Parsley Flan recipe is based on a Rainbow Carrot and Runner Bean Flan I made a couple of years ago with home grown vegetables.  I've made one change to the pastry, I added some poppy seeds for texture, it was a pleasant change from a plain pasty crust. 

This is a very light flan, so is best served with some Spring vegetables such as Jersey New Potatoes, spring onions and peas.

Carrot and Parsley in a Poppy seed Flan

Serves 4 - 6
Ingredients for the Poppy seed Pastry
225g plain flour
Pinch of salt
125g unsalted butter, diced
1 teaspoon black poppy seeds
2 – 3 tablespoons cold water
Method for the Poppy seed pastry
I made my pastry by hand, but for ease you can also use a food processor.
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.  Add the butter, then rub it into the flour with your fingertips, lifting the mixture high out of the bowl to incorporate air to make the pastry light.  Continue until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs, then gently work in the poppy seeds, distributing the poppy seeds evenly.  Then add water, a tablespoons at a time to form a soft dough. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead gently for a minute or two until smooth.  Roll the pastry out thin enough to line the base and sides of the tin. Carefully lift the pastry into the tin, press it into the sides. Preheat oven to gas mark 4. Blind bake the pastry until firm and lightly coloured. Optional: Trim the overlapping pastry now or when the dish is completely cooked

For the Carrot and Parsley filling
Serves 4 – 6
Ingredients
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 - 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut in half or 6 baby carrots
Handful of fresh parsley, stalks removed and leaves minced
150ml milk
1 medium egg
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Soften onion in olive oil without browning for about 10 minutes, then add the carrots and cook until tender.  Remove the carrots from the pan.   Whisk the milk with the egg, add the cooked onions, parsley and season to taste. Arrange the carrots in the flan base.  Then pour the egg-onion mixture into the flan case. Bake on gas mark 5 for 30 – 35 minutes until set.  Allow to cool. You can do this part when you have blind baked the pastry, these days I prefer to remove the overlapping pastry crust when the flan is completely cooked.