Preheat your oven to 180 ºC and grease a cake tin. (For this recipe, I used a 23 cm diameter pan).
In a blender, add the oil and the sugar, and blend for 30 seconds. Add the quartered oranges, the eggs and the vanilla essence. Continue blending until you get a smooth consistency for around 2 minutes.
Pour into a large bowl and fold the flour with patience.
Add the poppy seeds and pour the batter into the cake tin.
Bake for 25 minutes, until it is golden brown color. Insert a toothpick in the middle and, if it comes out clean, it’s done!
Let it cool completely before covering with the glacé.
Glacé:
Sift the icing sugar and add the lemon juice.
Mix until you get a runny consistency.
Candied Oranges:
In a saucepan, boild the water and add sugar. Let it simmer until all the sugar is dissolved.
Once it boils, lower to medium heat and add the orange slices. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Set aside and remove oranges to a baking sheet with parchment paper. Let them cool completely.
Once they are cold, transfer to a cooling rack for 24 hours.
ORANGES: You can add one orange unpeeled for more intense color and fragrance. Just do one unpeeled and one peeled. Otherwise, the cake will come out quite bitter. If they are too small, just use three.
ALTERNATIVES: You can easily replace the oranges with mandarins. If you do, there is no need to peel them (mandarins' peel is not as bitter as oranges'). Just remove the seeds, if any.