Spring is here and it’s time to experiment on some light and tangy cakes! I’ve always loved the taste of oranges and I thought hmm… let’s make an orange and poppy cake for tea today.

One thing I love to use in my cakes is yoghurt. You can use greek yoghurt or vanilla low-fat yoghurt or even buttermilk – they help to make the cake light and moist. This also means that you can cut down on butter slightly so you’ll feel less guilty when eating!

Orange poppy seed cake

Preparation time: 20 min
Baking time: 40min or when skewer comes out clean

Nutrition per slice (8 servings)

Ingredients

150g unsalted butter
120g caster sugar
300g self raising flour
3 large eggs
150ml yoghurt
125ml freshly squeezed orange juice – about 1 orange
Zest 1 orange
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbs poppy seeds

Directions

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees
Grease an 8 inch bundt ring tin
Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Add in the 3 eggs gradually, beating throughly after each addition
Turn the mixer to low speed and add in the yoghurt and orange juice and zest and vanilla essence. Mix it well
Sift the self-raising flour in and fold it evenly
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 40-50min or until golden brown
Leave it to cool in the tin then turn out onto a wire rack to cool