Recipe for Ruth

From Recipezaar.com

Orange Poppy Seed Cake
1¼ hours 20 min prep

A recipe by Theresa Williams. She calls it "the best cake in the world." Its delicious!
SERVES 8

Ingredients
8 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup poppy seed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 oranges, zest of, grated

Orange Glaze
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 325°F Grease 10-inch bundt pan (or two small loaf pans).
2 Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3 Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Mix well after each addition.
4 Fold in poppy seeds, vanilla and grated orange zest. Pour batter into the prepared pan(s).
5 Set on middle rack of oven and bake for 50-60 minutes (less time if baked in loaf pans), or until edges shrink away slightly from sides of pan and cake tester inserted into center comes out clean. Let cake cool in the pan for 30 minutes before turning it out onto a cake rack.
6 When cake has slightly cooled, prick holes in it 1 1/2 inches apart with a long toothpick and pour the *Orange glaze evenly over top. Serve warm. Disposable loaf pans work great for this, as the pans hold all the glaze and keep the cake moist.

7 *Orange Glaze.
8 1/2 cup fresh orange juice.
9 1/2 cup granulated sugar.
10 Combine orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until a light syrup forms.

My 2 cents:

I didn't have that much poppy seed, just more than 1/4 c. seemed like enough. I used a pastry brush to pick up the run off from the glaze and get it all on the cake. My bundt pan is dark non-stick, I might decrease the cooking time next time. I filled the center with orange wedges and leaves from the tree. It was gorgeous and very tasty. 8 servings is really big pieces, I think a reasonably sized serving would yield 16 or more. I think I got more.