Barefoot Contessa's Orange Pound Cake

riffraff's Note:

This is just busting with great orange flavor. I have always been fond of citrus cakes.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 2 loaves

• 1/2 lb unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup grated orange zest (6 oranges)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, divided
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Butter and flour 2 loaf pans.
3. Cream butter and 2 cups of sugar in a bowl.
4. Mix in eggs, one at a time; add zest.
5. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
6. In another bowl mix 1/4 cup orange juice, buttermilk and vanilla.
7. Add flour and buttermilk mixture aternately to the batter, beginning and ending with flour.
8. Divide between 2 pans and smooth the tops.
9. Bake for 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
10. Cool for 10 minutes.
11. Make syrup while cake is baking.
12. Syrup consists of remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup orange juice.
13. Cooks these two together over low heat till the sugar is desolved.
14. Spoon over cakes and then allow them to cool completely.
15. You may glaze these cakes (after cooling) with a simple glaze but I don't usually.

Reviews

[YungB]

Very moist and tender crumb. Not too sweet and bursting with orange flavor.

[theosuperstar]

Wow....this cake is full of orange flavor and very delicious. I mixed ALL the ingredients together at one time and skipped the orange syrup. What a smart move! I did not have buttermilk on hand so I used plain yogurt instead. Yogurt is the same measurement as the buttermilk. Also used a bundt pan instead of bread pans. Baked for 1 hour to perfection. <br/><br/>For those of you who count calories, this is 313 calories per 3 oz. slice.

[cambur]

I made this receipe directly from the BC's cookbook (which included the frosting/simple syrup). Delicious and dense like a pound cake should be. The fresh orange zest and juice is amazing! I used a tree cake form pan and cooked for ~65 minutes on 350 convection. Beautiful!