A simple orange pound cake recipe is spiced with nutmeg and dusted with a confectioners' sugar and cinnamon mixture for a warm touch to a classic dessert.

For me, pound cake has found its way into that class of desserts that I rarely make at home but secretly wish is served at parties. Do you have foods like that?

I'm not sure why pound cake is one of mine. For one it's relatively easy to make: mix up the ingredients, pour into loaf pan, and bake. Simple simple simple. We're not talking macarons here. Of those I've yet to make a batch just right and frankly have stopped trying.

And then it's delicious. Duh! Even when it's not flavored with citrus and spice and everything nice.

Maybe it's because most of my pound cake memories are of pound cakes made in bundt pans, which seem like way too many servings to keep around our household of two on a regular basis.

This spiced orange pound cake is made in a 9" x 5" loaf pan, which obviously deems it reasonable for two people to get through. Even though it's a far cry from a mini or small-batch recipe. I'll chalk it up to dessert logic.

Recipe ingredients

This spiced orange pound cake is dense, moist, and flavored just perfectly with spiced up citrus flavors.

At its base we (of course) have butter, as well as sugar, a bit of salt, and four eggs. We're using the juice and zest of one large orange, which will yield somewhere around one-quarter cup of juice. It doesn't have to be super precise.

Then all we need is vanilla extract, ground nutmeg for the spice, and flour. Even with extra flavors going on, pound cake doesn't require a ton of ingredients.

While some sort of glaze is popular for a pound cake, instead I opted for a simple confectioners' sugar dusting, but with a twist. I stirred a pinch of ground cinnamon into the confectioners' sugar before dusting it through a sifter so the sugar and spice (literally) was evenly dispersed.

I think I'll be tucking this powdered sugar/cinnamon idea in my back pocket for future desserts, too! And/or pancakes, waffles, toast...

Step-by-step instructions

To be honest the very first step of this recipe is to remember to take your butter out of the fridge on time to soften to room temperature. That's something I struggle with way too often. 🙂

This pound cake begins by creaming together the softened butter and sugar for several minutes. Then add the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. Next mix in the orange juice, zest, vanilla extract, and nutmeg, then end with the flour. You want everything to be as smooth as can be and mixed very well before adding the flour as you don't want to overmix it. That can lead to the gluten overdeveloping leading to a tougher crumb in baked goods.

Not what we want for this cake.

Pour out the mixture into a greased 9" x 5" loaf pan, then bake for just under an hour, or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let it cool completely before slicing and serving.

In the years since making this pound cake I've found another homemade version I love: vanilla chai pound cake. This one uses condensed milk to amplify that spongy moistness and is topped with a wonderful chai-flavored glaze.

Recipe notes

This pound cake is just the thing on which to spread champagne orange curd (just sayin...)
When making loaf cakes and quick breads, try not to open the oven door more than you need to during the bake time as this can interrupt the rise and lead to a more sunken in center than you'd like.