Carrot and Apricot Bread with Poppy Seeds

carrotcake_loaf

Ingredients:

3 eggs
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract (or 1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind)
3 oz dried apricots
8 oz shredded carrots
9 oz all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 oz chopped walnuts

Method:

CarrotCake_unbacked

carrotcake_Baked

Add enough water to cover apricots and let stand for about 15-20 minutes. Chop them into small pieces
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper and grease lightly
In a large bowl beat eggs and sugar until smooth. Add oil, orange rind/orange extract and vanilla extract and beat until frothy.
Squeeze excess juice from carrots and stir into the egg mixture with chopped apricots.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together
Add four mixture into the wet ingredients in 3 batches until well combined
Mix in poppy seeds and walnut pieces
Spoon batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top
Bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes (or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean).
Leave in pan for about 10 minutes
Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely

Note: After making the cake, I felt like the amount of poppy seed I added was a bit too much. So it can be reduced to 1 tablespoon or 1 1/2 tablespoons.