Vegan Orange Red Currant Poppy-Seed Bread

This is a delicious bread-or coffee-cake. It’s been a good year for currants and most fruits.

Serving Size: 8

Ingredients:

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2/3 cup non-dairy margarine, melted
• 1¼ cup sugar
• 1 orange zested and juiced
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon orange extract (optional)
• 3 egg replacements (I use Orgran “No-Egg”)
• ½ cup non-dairy milk
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon poppy-seeds
• 1½ cup red currants, washed and removed from the stem

for the glaze:

• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon orange juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF / 177ºC.
2. Line a bread form or a spring form cake pan with baking parchment and spray with oil.
3. Zest the orange
4. Mix the orange zest with the sugar to make a lovely aromatic mixture.
5. Create your egg replacements and add to the sugar,
6. Beat to a light fluffy mixture.
7. Mix the melted non-dairy margarine and non-dairy milk together to a uniform blend.
8. Add the vanilla and orange extract to the milk mixture.
9. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, and cardamom.
10. Add the poppy-seeds to the dry mixture and stir to mix.
11. Fold the egg mixture alternating with the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and gently mix until moistened.
12. If the mixture is too dry add a splash of orange juice.
13. Gently fold in the red currants and spoon the batter into the prepared bread or cake tin.
14. Place in the oven to bake for 60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. It took my oven about 10 minutes longer, but each oven is different – start checking after around 55 minutes or so just to make sure.
15. Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack for at least 1 hour before removing from the cake tin.

to make the glaze:

1. Whisk the powdered sugar and orange juice in a small bowl.
2. Drizzle over the cake allow to harden before serving.