I made that!

It seems the more I learn about baking, the more I appreciate the classics. Lately, I just can’t stop thinking about pound cake. I needed to make some cakes for the cafe, and had some oranges in the fridge, so orange flavored pound cakes it is! I really wanted to taste the orange, so I decided to use both the juice and the zest in my batter.

I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to pound cake. I believe in going sans leavening, letting the hyper-creamed butter and eggs do all the heavy lifting. I’ve been using the recipe my teacher gave my in pastry school, and have found it a great base to add other flavors into. So first step, I creamed my butter and sugar for about 8 minutes, until it was super white and fluffy. Since there is no baking powder or baking soda, it’s important to keep a strong emulsification in the butter, so the batter is strong and gets a lot of height. This makes temperature really important. I try to have every ingredient at room temperature, since things emulsify better when they’re not cold.

Then I slowly drizzled in my eggs and kept beating until it was all smooth.

Then I beat in the orange juice and zest, and finish by sifting in the flour, vanilla bean seeds and salt.

I poured the batter into a lined and buttered loaf pan, slicing down the middle with a spatula to reign in the future hump.

I baked it for about an hour and let it cool.

Then I made a glaze out of the orange juice and powdered sugar. I poured that over the top and let it drip down the sides.

Stop by Etiquette Lounge and have a slice!

RECIPE:

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla extract

8 oz butter, room temperature

8 ¾ oz sugar

7 oz cake flour

½ tsp salt

1 ½ TBSP orange zest

3 TBSP orange juice

– Butter and parchment line loaf pan.

– Cream butter and sugar for 8 minutes.

– Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each.

– Continue to beat for 1 minute.

– Add zest and juice.

– Continue to beat for 1 minute.

– Sift in the dries in 3 additions.

– Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top.

– Bake at 325 F for 50 – 80 minutes, or until baked through.