Orange Poppy Pound Cake with Orange Glaze

Have you seen those gorgeous oranges in the supermarket recently? Here, they are huge and bright orange and you can just tell from the outside that they are super sweet and delicious. Seeing them in the market the other day inspired me to make this cake, a take-off of  a pound cake that has great texture and unbelievable orange flavor from a TON of orange zest. I absolutely love oranges, it is my second favorite citrus fruit (coming in right below my beloved lemon) and I have so many memories of eating juicy, sugar sweet oranges when I was young.While I was making this I spotted some poppy seeds in the cabinet and while traditionally lemon pound cake gets paired with poppy seeds, the old man inside of me felt compelled to add them here and I was really happy with the beauty they added with their little black flecks and the subtle poppy flavor in the background, but you can totally leave them out. Just to make this cake more Orange-y I brushed it with orange syrup and THEN added an orange glaze. Orange Heaven. Yum.

For the Cake:
2 sticks margarine, room temp
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
zest of 4 oranges (about 1/4 of a cup)
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup rice milk or soy milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbl poppy seeds

Cream the margarine and sugar together until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and the zest. Beat well. In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds. In another bowl mix the orange juice, soy milk and vanilla. Add each to the bowl alternating one with the other until they are both finished and ending with the flour. Pour into two loaf pans or into a 9x13 cake pan and bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Cool slightly and transfer to a wire rack and make the glaze.

For the syrup:
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup sugar

Combine the juice and sugar in a sauce pan over low heat. Let the sugar melt and mix on low heat another couple of minute until it reduces and looks syrupy. Poke holes all around the cake with a toothpick and brush the cake with glaze a few times.
Once the cake cools, drizzle with glaze.

For the  glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
3-5 Tbl orange juice

Whisk the orange juice and sugar together until smooth. The glaze should be thick enough that it pours nicely but not too thick.

                                       Look closely and you can see all that beautiful, delicious zest in there!