I made these cupcakes already several weeks ago. I was inspired by a piece of orange poppyseed cake I ate in a little coffee shop in the lovely town of Dalesford, Australia. I was doing a yoga retreat not very far from Dalesford, and on our day off, we headed into Dalesford to indulge in some coffee and cake. I had never heard of orange poppyseed cake before, but was pleasantly surprised by the fresh taste.

Ingredients
125ml milk (I used soy milk)
1/3 cup poppyseeds
180g softened unsalted butter
220g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
Finely grated zest of 3 oranges
125ml freshly squeezed orange juice
375g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder

For the syrup
125ml freshly squeezed orange juice
55g caster sugar
20g unsalted butter
Zest of 2 oranges

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a muffin pan or line base with papercups.
Place milk in a bowl and stir in poppyseeds. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and pale. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Gently fold in zest, juice and poppyseed mixture. Sift flour and baking powder over top and fold in. Spoon mixture into pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Meanwhile, place syrup ingredients in a pan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Turn heat to high and simmer for 2 minutes. While the cupcakes are still warm, pierce holes in the top with a skewer and pour over the hot syrup and zest. Serve warm or cold.