Recipe for Success

Saturday night was our long delay'd housewarming - It was a great evening of unexpected visits from good friends (Ben + Angela!) , red wine, and tasty fall treats; pumpkin bread cupcakes, garlic cheese bread w/ artichoke dip, Butternut squash soup, various treats and tastes, and Adrian's infamous Almond Poppyseed Cake. Last night while watching "Zwarteboek" and the first VHS of "Merlin" Jenny and i gorged ourselves on a couple fat slices of this stuff. Let me tell you, each one of those slices must have weighed a 1/2 lbs each. This stuff is dense. Dense, with goodness!

Anyway, I asked his permission, and he in turn asked his mother (head chef and keeper of the recipe...) if i could share this tasty treat with you all; they happily agreed, and so here it is: I recommend serving a small slice with a cup of black coffee and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

3 Cups Flour

2 3/4 Cups Sugar

1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Salt

3 Eggs

1 1/2 Cups Milk

1 Cup Cooking Oil

3 Tsp Poppy Seed

3 Tsp Vanilla Extract

3 Tsp Almond Extract

3 Tsp Butter Flavor

Combine dry ingredients. Combine milk and flavorings. In a large mixing bowl, blend sugar and oil, then add the eggs. Add dry ingredients alternately with flavored milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Pour into a greased and floured Bundt pan, or into two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours if using Bundt pan, about 1 hour if using loaf pans.

Glaze:

1/2 Cup Orange Juice (or any combination of flavors, such as Pineapple/Orange will do)

3/4 Cup Sugar

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 Tsp Almond Extract

1/2 Tsp Butter Flavor

Combine all of the above in a saucepan, bring to a boil, let simmer for five minutes. Drizzle over warm cake.

Tip: We've found that this cake generally tastes the best if you let it stand for about a day (or even two) and let the glaze soak in. Best served at room temperature rather than fresh out of the oven.