Orange Pound Cake

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What do you make when life gives you a bunch of oranges? Orange Pound Cake!

A few weeks ago our neighbors brought over some oranges from their tree. And when I say “some oranges” I mean the amount Walmart orders for a random Tuesday.

There were a lot of oranges.

Now, Mel will eat oranges and Jordan drinks orange juice, but me? I’m an orange dessert kind of girl. Which is weird, because until about two years ago I hated citrus.

Then I discovered lemon. {Can you hear the angels singing?}

Last year, I discovered orange. It was actually after they brought us our 2013 bag of oranges. I made brownies with them.

This year I asked Facebook (you follow me on Facebook, right?) what to make with my bounty of oranges. I got lots of suggestions. I wanted to make them all, but one kept nagging at me. I’d think of it at random times, and I’d start drooling.

Orange Pound Cake. Or is it Orange Bundt Cake? I don’t know, I think they’re the same thing.

This cake is delish. Like, really, really good.

This cake has triple the orange flavor:

1. The cake is filled with orange zest and juice.

2. The cake is drenched with an orange simple syrup (fresh squeezed orange juice + water + heat) before the frosting goes on.

3. The frosting is an orange powdered sugar glaze.

This cake is orange cubed!

And guess what? It’s also a little healthier than a regular pound cake. The lemon pound cake that this recipe is based off of used two sticks of unsalted butter. Instead of using that huge cup of butter, I used one stick (1/2 cup) and replaced the rest with 1/2 cup of nonfat vanilla greek yogurt (you can also use plain). It takes out some of the fat and calories, but it doesn’t affect the flavor. If you’ve never baked with greek yogurt before, you may notice that it’s a little thicker than a normal cake. But, then again, pound cake is a thicker cake (as opposed to a regular layer cake). That makes it perfect for the greek yogurt sub.

This cake is dense, rich, and orangey.

{If you don’t have greek yogurt, you can use all butter, but I’ve never done that for this recipe. I did that for the lemon pound cake, which I baked in loaf pans. I’m confident that putting the butter back in would be fine for this cake too. Also, you can bake this in two loaf pans instead of a bundt pan. I recommend using two 4×8″ loaf pans. If you only have 9×5″ that’s fine, but they’ll be flatter.}

This is one of those cakes you make and then realize you have a whole cake in your kitchen, one that you’ve been dreaming about for 3 weeks. And you realize you have to get it out. I ate a slice (or three) and gave some to the neighbors who gave us the oranges. Because when you get a bag of oranges…you should make cake.

And you should eat it too!

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3.63 from 8 votes

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Orange Pound Cake

Ingredients

For the pound cake:

• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour — plus more for pan
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter — softened, plus more for pan
• 1/2 cup nonfat vanilla — or plain greek yogurt
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs

For the glaze

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup orange juice

For the frosting:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 12-cup fluted bundt pan (or two 4x8 loaf pans).
2. Combine buttermilk with orange zest and juice and vanilla in a measuring cup. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. With an electric mixer, cream butter, yogurt, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture (with the mixer on low) in three parts alternately with the buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Beat just until it comes together. Do not overmix!
3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 45-55 minutes with the large bundt pan.
4. While the cake is baking, make the glaze by heating granulated sugar and orange juice in a small pan over low heat. Bring to a simmer and stir. Once sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and let sit until cake is done.
5. Once done, cool cake completely in pan. Turn out cake onto a rack. Use a pastry brush to spread the glaze evenly over the tops and sides of the cake. Let dry before drizzling with frosting.
6. Make the drizzle by mixing all ingredients with a whisk. Leave the cake on a rack. Place drizzle in a ziploc bag and cut off one tip. Drizzle over cake and let dry, about 30 minutes. Carefully transfer cake to a serving plate.

All text and images © Dorothy Kern for Crazy for Crust. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be accurate.

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Sweets from friends:
Orange Creamsicle Puppy Chow by The Gunny Sack
Chocolate Orange Cookies by Shugary Sweets
Orange Julius Recipe by Something Swanky