Orange + Almond + Poppy Seeds: Blood Orange Loaf Cake

After a first successful attempt baking with blood oranges, I wanted to keep going. I decided to make Edd Kimber's Blood Orange Loaf Cake recipe because it calls for marzipan, and I am the kind of person who will eat marzipan or almond paste straight out of the package.
 
This is a butter cake that comes together quickly. You beat unsalted butter with sugar and orange zest until fluffy; add eggs and vanilla; alternately add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) and yogurt; and mix in poppy seeds and grated marzipan. I didn't have any marzipan, so I used almond paste instead. The paste was soft and impossible to grate, so I cut it into chunks instead. I made a triple batch of the batter and divided it between two 10-inch by 5-inch loaf pans; they needed an hour to bake.
When the loaves were completely cooled, I added a glaze made from blood orange juice and powdered sugar, and sprinkled on poppy seeds. There was a lot of glaze (I made a triple batch of that as well), so I was able to cover the entire top and most of the sides of the loaves. I loved the pretty pink color. When I sliced the loaves I could see the distinct blobs of almond paste, which did not seem to be very evenly distributed. 

I really liked this loaf. While you could taste some orange flavor in the loaf itself from the zest, it was not as strong as I was expecting. However, the glaze was basically pure sweet orange flavor, so overall, this was clearly an orange loaf. I actually thought the poppy seeds were the most prominent component of this cake, and I enjoyed their crunchy texture. The almond flavor was not very pronounced, except when you happened to bite into a piece of almond paste. But overall, I thought that the almond, poppy seeds, and orange went together nicely. This loaf was moist, tender, and very satisfying.
 
Recipe: "Blood Orange Loaf Cake" by Edd Kimber, from Olive Magazine. 
 

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