Scratch-made Orange Zest Pound Cake with Orange Curd
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Scratch-made Orange Zest Pound Cake with Orange Curd is buttery and soft with a light citrus flavor. The Orange Curd is luscious, sweet, slightly tart, and adds just enough zing to the cake. This recipe combo of cake plus curd is dessert heaven.
Scratch-made Orange Zest Pound Cake
This pound cake is both dense and moist with a small crumb. It’s full of orange flavor with orange zest and orange juice in the cake. Orange Zest Pound Cake is sweet without being overly sweet, and the Orange curd adds just the right amount of kick. Coincidentally, the orange curd and vanilla ice cream make a delicious dessert on its own.
I have enjoyed making all the different pound cake recipes for my Pound Cakes series. There are basic pound cakes and various flavors of fruit, and nut pound cakes and I enjoy all of them. Check them out here and see which one you like best > Pound Cakes Reviewed
You may also enjoy these pound cake recipes
Orange Pound Cake
My favorite way to eat a pound cake is warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This definitely holds true for this Orange Pound Cake. Therefore, when cooking the curd, time it so that the curd is still warm when the cake comes out of the oven. Warm sauce plus warm cake and cold vanilla ice cream is the best dessert ever. This pound cake is great and the Orange Curd is a must. Don’t leave it off.
Pound cakes are a very basic cake to make and easy to master. I gave a lot of tips for making pound cakes here and in this post for Whipping Cream Pound Cake. Most importantly is measuring the flour correctly and having the ingredients at room temperature. I suggest you click over and read through those tips if you’re a rookie baker.
Pound Cake Tips
Pound cakes are dense and take a long time to bake. Be patient; it’s well worth the wait. Like traditional pound cake, my Scratch-made Orange Zest Pound Cake with Orange Curd has that nice crust on the outside while remaining tender and soft. Coincidently, pouring the curd over the cake makes a beautiful presentation and is a great idea if you’ll be serving it immediately. However, if you don’t plan to serve it immediately, I would serve the orange curd on the side so that you keep that nice crisp outside to the pound cake. I’m all about the texture when it comes to pound cakes.
Equipment and Tools Needed
- Electric Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer. I recommend a stand mixer.
- Spatula
- Liquid Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons and cups
- Cake plate
- Cake cover
- Wire cooling rack
- Small sauce pan
- Wire whisk
You can also find great recipes at my recipe index
Scratch-made Orange Zest Pound Cake with Orange Curd
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup Crisco shortening
- 3 cup granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs at room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
For the curd
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 and ½ tablespoons butter melted
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 large eggs lightly beaten
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Grease a 10-inch tube pan with solid vegetable shortening and sugar (or flour, I use sugar because it doesn't leave white patches) or Wilton Cake Release.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and shortening.
- Add sugar and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time until the yellow disappears.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add it alternately with the milk and orange juice, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
- Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.
- Stir in orange zest and vanilla.
- Pour batter into prepared tube pan.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with dry crumbs.
- Cool cake in pan on wire rack 20 minutes before inverting it on a serving tray.
- Meanwhile, prepare orange curd. (below)
- Remove cake from pan to wire rack and cool for 1 hour. You can either glaze the cake with the curd or drizzle the curd over the cake when served.
For the curd
- Stir together all the ingredients in a small, heavy saucepan.
- Cook over low heat, stirring constantly for 10 to 12 minutes or until the mixture thickens slightly. (It will begin to form bubbles around the edge of the pan.)
- Use immediately or refrigerate up to one week.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
can I use cake flour in place of all purpose flour?
Yes but there are a couple of changes. You may want to google it yourself. “To substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour for every cup of all-purpose flour. Make your own – one cup sifted cake flour (100 grams) can be substituted with 3/4 cup (85 grams) sifted bleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (15 grams) cornstarch.”
can I use cake flour instead of all purpose
Do you flour your pan? The directions say grease but not flour. I had to use a sharp knife and run around the outside and inner cone to get it out and most of the bottom crust stayed in the pan, but I scraped it out and ate it! It was yummy! Can’t wait til it cools and I put the orange curd on a slice!!
I use solid vegetables shortening then instead of flour I use sugar, but I still run the knife around the edges. I have actually found the cakes with fruit, especially the lemon and orange ones tend to stick more too. I just made a new lemon one this morning and I had to work with it to get it out.
You stated the cake should bake at 235 correct?
Ack, no 325~! going to correct that now!
So super tasty and easy to make, I love it!
Love this, it looks beautiful & delicious
Could you make this recipe substituting lemon for the orange flavoring? I have 2 bottles of Lemon curd and don’t know what to do with it? Thanks
Absolutely, sub lemon or lemon zest for the orange and orange zest and it’ll be fabulous! (And, I love lemon curd warmed a little over vanilla ice cream too)
Hi, this seems like a wonderful recipe. However, I’m Just wondering at what time is the orange juice added? I don’t believe it states in the directions. For some reason it’s left out. I’m guessing along with the milk, but just wanted to make sure. Thanks
Yes, with the milk, I’ll correct that. Sorry for the confusion
This pound cake looks so moist and delicious and I will be making it soon! Thanks for sharing the recipe, Paula!
Could this be made with a orange buttercream glaze instead of the curd? My family loves icing and frosting on most cakes.
Yes, that would be great.