Blood Orange Pound Cake Recipe

Moist, delicious and full of citrus flavour, Blood Orange Pound Cake is an easy to make treat the whole family will love.

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Blood Orange Pound Cake is a recipe I make regularly during the blood orange season, which varies from year to year but is generally sometime during November to March. Of course, this cake is absolutely delicious made with ordinary oranges as well.  Originally from the ‘Barefoot Contessa Family Style’ I’ve adapted this recipe a bit, in particular reducing the sugar.

I love the colour the blood oranges lends to this cake, the rosy hue of the syrup and flecks of orange rind just visible when the cake was sliced. The blood orange juice made the glaze a pretty pink too.

Blood orange juice is the most glorious colour.

The rind is beautiful too. But I’ll say it again, this cake tastes amazing made with ordinary oranges. Actually, I’m not sure there is any such thing as an ‘ordinary’ orange. Ever really looked at all those segments? Oranges are miracles of engineering.

How to Make Blood Orange Pound Cake

Blood Orange Pound Cake takes very little time to put together. Just cream 1 cup of butter and 1¾ cups sugar in an electric mixer.

Add 4 beaten eggs and ¼cup of orange zest. Then sift together 3 cups flour, ½ teaspoon each baking powder, baking soda and salt in one bowl. In another bowl combine ¼ cup of orange juice, ¾ cup buttermilk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add these two mixtures alternately  to the butter, sugar and egg batter in the electric mixer, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Put the mixture into prepared pans and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.

While the cakes are baking, make a syrup from ½ cup orange juice and  ¼ cup sugar.

When the cakes are cooked, cool for 10 minutes in the pan before removing them a wire rack placed on a sheet of waxed or greaseproof paper topped with paper towels. Poke a few holes in the cake with a skewer and spoon the syrup over top.

Once the cakes have cooled completely, you can glaze them if you like.

Blood Orange Pound Cake really is the perfect weekend cake. Not only do you have a lovely cake to snack on with your family all weekend long, but you can make someone else’s weekend by sharing the second one. Sounds like a plan to me.

Blood Orange Pound Cake

 

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Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar, divided
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• ¼ cup orange zest
• 3 cups all purpose (plain) flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• ¾ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• For the glaze:
• 1 cup icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
• 1 - 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and flour or line two 8½ x 4½ x 2½ loaf pans. If you are using the grease and flour method, you may find it helpful to line the bottom of the loaf pans with parchment paper.
3. Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the beaten eggs and the orange zest.
5. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl.
6. Gently mix together ¼ cup orange juice, the buttermilk and vanilla in a pitcher or another bowl.
7. Add the flour and orange juice mixtures alternately to the butter, sugar and egg mixture in the electric mixer. I do this in about 2 additions each, beginning and ending with the flour.
8. Carefully pour the batter into your two prepared pans, dividing the mixture evenly and gently smoothing the tops.
9. Bake for 45 - 60 minutes until the tops of the cakes are beginning to turn golden brown, the cakes spring back when touched lightly, and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and cool in the pans for ten minutes.
10. Meanwhile, gently mix the remaining ¼ cup of sugar with the remaining ½ cup of orange juice in a small saucepan.
11. Heat the mixture gently, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the sugar is completely dissolved.
12. Place a layer of wax or greaseproof paper on the table or counter top, with a layer of paper towels over it.
13. Remove the cakes from their baking pans to a wire cooling rack, and place the rack on top of the paper and paper towels.
14. Poke a few holes in the cakes with a skewer, and carefully spoon the syrup over top.
15. Let the cakes cool completely.
16. If you would like to glaze the cakes, put the icing sugar in a bowl and gradually add one to two teaspoons orange juice until a fairly thick, smooth and pourable consistency is reached.
17. Drizzle the glaze over the cakes.

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