I seem to be developing a taste for simple loafy cakes, made with a minimum of sugar and a total lack of frosting. The best part of a cake like this is its versatility. A slice is perfect for breakfast, a midafternoon snack with tea, or an easy dessert. I could definitely use some more options for all of those occasions. Clearly, we needed a cake in the house.

So I looked around the internet and decided to make Cookie & Kate's orange poppyseed pound cake--almost totally according to the recipe--and it was great. Hey, what better use of the oranges on our tree and the slowly diminishing half-pound bag of poppyseeds in the spice cabinet?


Here's what it looks like when you smash a bunch of orange zest into a mix of powdered and raw sugar. Orange and sugar paste!

I had to use the mix of sugars because we don't run the kind of household that normally has random pounds of sugar hanging around. Of course, we also don't normally have powdered sugar. It was just a happy accident, and it worked really well in the cake, besides. That's the only change I made.


SEEDS APLENTY.

There was no licking of the bowl.


I actually oiled the pan before lining it with parchment. This meant the oil held the parchment firmly in place while I was pouring in the batter. Nice. How did I not know this trick before?


The result? A dense and moist loaf of cake with just the barest hint of orange scent, studded with all the crunchy seeds in the land. The overall texture actually reminds me of banana bread, although no bananas were involved.

As with practically every cake I make, I ended up eating a slice or two with peanut butter. Verdict: that's some good breakfast. Or snack. Or dessert.

What kind of cake are you eating this spring?