Almond Poppyseed Bread

Cake...bread, you could consider this recipe to be either one! I ended up delivering mini-loaves to some neighbors as Christmas gifts this year and got some rave reviews. This is another recipe from Our Best Bites (told you I was obsessed) and you can find their directions complete with pictures here. Delicious!

bread:

1 1/8 cups canola oil
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. butter flavoring
1 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tsp. poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine oil, sugar, eggs and flavorings and beat for 2 minutes. Add baking powder and salt and mix in. Alternate adding flour and milk (I like to go in this order - 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk). Add poppyseeds and mix until just combined. Pour into greased pans (2 large or 5 mini-loaf pans) and bake for 35-40 minutes for mini pans or 1 hour for large pans. I prefer the taste of the bread when made into mini-loaves...not sure why, but I do. When done baking, let cool in pans on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Glaze:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond flavoring
1/2 tsp. butter flavoring
1/4 cup orange juice

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl. Spoon over the tops of the loaves as they are cooling on the rack. Be liberal with your glazing because the glaze is delicious! It makes a sort of crusty top that is just delicious.