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 don’t really ever 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 (I’ve yet to make a batch just right).
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.
Whatever the case, this spiced orange pound cake is dense, moist, and flavored just perfectly with orange juice, zest, and ground nutmeg for a dessert calling to all you citrus lovers out there. Instead of a glaze 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…
- 11 tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick and 3 tbsp), at room temperature
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 eggs
- Juice and zest of one large orange (about 1/4 cup juice)
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- Butter a 9" x 5" loaf pan and set aside. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a mixing bowl, beat butter on medium speed until creamy, about one minute. Add sugar and salt and creamy on medium to medium-high speed for a few minutes until light and creamy.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add orange juice, orange zest, nutmeg, and vanilla extract and beat until all mixed. Add flour and beat until just combined, taking care not to overmix.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the edges are golden and a tester, like a toothpick, inserted into the center of the loaf comes to clean. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, and then loosen the edges with a paring knife. Remove pound cake and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- To serve I mixed together a tiny bit of ground cinnamon with confectioners' sugar and dusted over top.
P.S. Spiced orange pound cake is just the thing for spreading champagne orange curd on (just sayin…)
This pound cake looks so moist and delicate! I would eat so many slices of this. Love all things citrusy in the spring!
I never really make pound cake at home either, I’m not sure why because it’s absolutely delicious! I love that you added in some orange to this one and what a great way to use that curd 😉
I love any desserts with orange, and any dessert that is poundcake, so this is a double winner for me! It looks amazing. Great tip about the powdered sugar topping, I’ll be trying that 🙂
An orange pound cake?! So creative! Love the flavor!
haha I like your dessert logic!! Makes total sense to me!
This pound cake sounds delicious – I’ve never done citrus in pound cake before but it looks fantastic!
I’ve started making poundcake more because I have a gluten free recipe that I really like, but it is so dangerous for me to have large amounts of it lying around! I will pretty much eat the entire cake in a few days because I love it so much! I’ve been eating so many oranges lately so I know I would just devour this whole thing!
I absolutely love the color of this! And yes, that champagne curd on top would just be perfection 🙂
Really, I don’t think I ever had a pound cake :/ That’s sad :O