During my thesis-induced baking hiatus, I did have a moment of weakness. I was missing baking a little too much, and so I returned to the kitchen to bake a quick treat. I told my desk buddies I’d bring in some cupcakes to help them through the last moments of Masters. Stress levels were so high in the office during those last few weeks that the tinest of morale boosts were received with thrice the usual enthusiasm, so really, it was for a good cause. It was also a good excuse to get away from the computer chair that was numbing my limbs and the computer screen that was ruining my eyes.

Excuses, excuses. A baking hiatus was never really going to last anyway…

I love citrus in baking, but I especially love oranges. I made an orange cake for a commission many moons ago, and the smell of it filling my kitchen made me want to nom it all right then and there. I said I was going to bake another for us but somehow it never happened, so I was eager for an excuse to bake something orange,

The addition of poppy seeds just ticked the rest of the taste and aesthetics boxes.

The resulting cake is lovely and moist and was a total hit in the office. The buttercream on top was lovely and creamy, with just a hint of orange.

This recipe made 10 cupcakes. I didn’t have any orange marmalade on hand when I made this batch, but any marmalade or jam will go fine. I used strawberry jam for this batch. You can serve these with buttercream as I did, but they’re nice enough alone. If you’re partial to boozy cakes, you could even drizzle these with an orange liquor (e.g. cointreau) before icing.

You’ll find the printable version of this recipe here.