This orange pound cake is so delicious it’s like taking a bite of sweet sunshine! It’s loaded with amazing orange flavor. The cake has a whopping 1/3 of a cup of freshly grated orange zest.
Now that is lots of orange flavors but that’s not the only orange deliciousness in this cake. There’s also fresh orange juice in it. Then, just to knock this cake straight out of the ballpark, its coated while its warm with orange syrup, and then it’s covered in an orange glaze!
Hello orang-iliousness! Cakes are one of my favorite desserts to make and pound cakes are at the top of my list!
Jump To…
If you like pound cakes loaded with fruit, don’t miss my Peach Pound Cake or Strawberry Pound Cake! Just like this cake, they’re buttery, tender, moist, and loaded with delicious fresh fruit! While not quite a pound cake my Blueberry Coffee Cake This cake is one the best, seriously the best, cakes every. It’s crazy moist, and again, loaded with fruit. I love that it’s called a coffee cake because cake for breakfast is ahhh-mazing! Don’t be fooled though, this cake it the star of the show anytime you serve it!
What I Love About This Recipe
- The orange flavor is fabulous!
- So buttery.
- The soak increases the flavor and moister.
Orange Pound Cake Video Tutorial
On your phone? Check out my web story here.
How To Make Orange Pound Cake
In this recipe, you use the traditional method for making pound cake. You start by whisking together your dry ingredient in a bowl the mix together the liquid ingredients in another bowl. Set both aside. Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand-up mixer for a full 5 minutes. Don’t do it for less time or the texture of your cake will be compromised. Then add the eggs one at a time then pop in the zest. Now it’s time to alternate adding the dry ingredients and the liquid to the mixer. Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake! Check out our video above to watch how to make this cake step by step!
Recipe Notes
Room Temperature: For best results make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature
To Line or Not: This cake has a tendency to stick a bit so it’s one of those cakes that really you really need to line the pans with parchment. Trust me you don’t want to skip it. Who wants to mess up the presentation!
Baking: I bake most of my pound cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Because of the tender crumb of this type of cake, if you bake it like a standard cake until a toothpick comes out clean, it can be slightly dry. Check your cake religiously as the baking time winds down!
Soak: What the orange soak does for this cake is absolutely incredible! Don’t even think about skipping it! This is one of the elements that differentiate this cake from all the other ho-hum orange cakes. I like to brush it on just the tops a few times right when they come out of the oven. Then I take the cakes out of the pans and apply more the sides and top again until all the syrup has been absorbed.
Glaze: The glaze is wonderful. You can drizzle it slowly over the cakes or pour it. Make sure you make it thick enough that it doesn’t just run off the sides and pool on your serving plate!
How To Store The Cake:
Cool completely before storing. Pound cakes can easily dry out so store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge. You can store this in the fridge for up to a week.
Can You Freeze This?
Yes! You can freeze this pound cake. I like to wrap my cake in cling wrap or place it in an airtight container. You’ll be able to freeze it for up to six months.
To thaw, simply leave it in the fridge overnight. Easy!
Make Ahead Tips
Like most cakes, there isn’t much you can do to speed up the baking process. All the ingredients need to go together rather quickly, and you can’t bake it in the oven any faster.
But! This cake does keep very well. Especially in the fridge!
Orange Pound Cake with Orange Syrup and Orange Glaze
Ingredients
CAKE:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 3/4 cup buttermilk at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 5 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/3 cup about 6 oranges freshly grated orange zest
ORANGE SYRUP:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
GLAZE:
- 2 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 2-4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
Instructions
CAKE:
- Line the bottom of two-8 1/2 X 4 1/2 inch loaf pans with parchment paper, then grease well. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
- In a small bowl combine orange juice, the buttermilk, and the vanilla and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, cream together on medium speed the butter and sugar for 5 minutes. Keeping the mixer on the same speed, add the eggs one at a time and mix well, scraping down the bowl, after each addition. Add the orange zest.
- Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, starting with the flour and finishing with the flour. Evenly divide batter between prepared pans and smooth out the tops. Bake cakes 45-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the loaves comes out with a few moist crumbs.
SYRUP:
- Meanwhile, as the cakes bake, prepare the orange syrup; In a small saucepan cook the sugar and orange juice over low heat until the sugar dissolves. When the cakes come out of the oven, generously brush the tops with the syrup. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 10 minutes, glazing the tops a few more times while they cool in pans. Remove the cakes from loaf pans and set them on a wire rack set over the baking tray or a piece of aluminum foil to catch drips. Brush the sides and tops of the cakes with the remaining syrup, allowing a couple of minutes between brushings to allow syrup to absorb into the cake until the syrup is gone. Cool the cakes on completely.
GLAZE:
- Make the glaze by adding the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons orange juice to a medium bowl. Using a hand-held electric mixer mix until smooth. Add more orange juice, a teaspoon or so at a time, as needed to reach a thick but pourable consistency. Pour half of the glaze recipe over each cake. Let the cakes sit out until the glaze has dried well. Wrap each loaf and store in the refrigerator.
Fans Also Made:
Nutrition
More Favorite Pound Cakes
- Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake -Deliciously tender and moist with the right amount of lemon flavoring, topped with a lovely lemon glaze!
- Kentucky Butter Cake -Tender, moist and deliciously unique, soaked with a wonderful Butter Sauce and topped with an amazing Butter Glaze.
- Lemon Pound Cake – Moist and tender with the perfect lemon flavor!
- Blueberry Pound Cake – Buttery flavor, dotted with blueberries, with a dense, velvety, luscious texture
- Eggnog Pound Cake – is the perfect cake for the holidays!
Source: Ina Garten
This sounds delicious! Can you recommend a good way to make it without eggs? Thanks so much!
Sophia, I’m sorry! Honestly, I have no idea how to make a pound cake without eggs!
I cannot believe how good this is.
Thank you Melissa. So happy you enjoyed it!
Es excelente, yo le agrego 1 cucharada de semillas de amapola y 2 cucharadas más del jugo de naranja. Ha sido un éxito total!
Les agradecería que las cantidades de los ingredientes los dieran en gramos, pues en esta receta dice dos barras de mantequilla, no dice de cuántos gramos, nos confunde a los principiantes, gracias de antemano. Saludos
Hi, Charly. Updated recipe card, metric measurements: https://www.gonnawantseconds.com/wprm_print/16120
Thanks!
Las 2 barras de mantequilla tienen 125 grs cada una así que son 250 grs en total ( 1/2 libra)
Made these loafs and they were really yummy even better 2nd and 3 rd day. Has anyone made this recipe as a large cake? Would you need to change any quantities?
Hi Rosa! So happy you enjoyed this cake. I’m sorry but I haven’t tried baking the recipe in any other size pans.
Hi Rosa! I just bake it in a sheet cake sized pan. I accidentally added an extra egg(whoops!) but I baked it at the same temp for 40 minutes. It could probably have used a few less minutes, maybe start checking it at 30? But it came out delicious an fragrant nonetheless! Good luck!
I always make it in a pound cake mold and it works fine!
This cake is just glorious. Definitely a keeper. Thank you 😁
Sheena, you are so welcome! I totally agree with you regarding this cake 🙂
Making it now. Question, if I’m serving it tomorrow, should I add the syrup and glaze tomorrow? Or store it with the syrup and glaze?
Hi, Traci. You can store it with syrup and glaze. Or best, add the syrup, then refrigerate. Add the glaze tomorrow. Thanks! Let us know how it turns out.
love…love..
Thanks, Tracey! 🙂
I ,¿how many oz. has each stick of butter?
Hi, Claudia. 1 stick of butter is equivalent to 4 ounces. 🙂
Can this recipe be cut in half to make just 1 loaf? Some ingredients can’t be halved (5 eggs – so would it be better with 3 eggs or 2 eggs?) – thanks
Hi, Janet! I haven’t tried baking this with just one loaf but you can give it a try. I’ll go with 3 eggs 🙂 Let us know how it turns out!
This cake is in the oven now, I added 1/2 teaspoon of orange extract to the batter and 1/2 teaspoon to the glaze. It smells amazing, perfect for a spring day. Thank you for the recipe.
Thank you, Sandra! I agree, it smells sooo good! 🙂
Delicious. Never baked before so it took me a little longer but it came out moist and tasty.
Yay! Congrats, Bert 🙂 Thank you for your positive review!