Fiori di Sicilia adds a hint of orange and vanilla to this buttery pound cake. Super easy to make, Orange Vanilla Pound Cake is great on its own, served with berries and whipped cream, or cubed as part of a delicious trifle. Make one for the holidays, for a special celebration, or just for afternoon tea!
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Why this recipe works
- A easy-to-make recipe with easy-to-remember measurements for the 4 major ingredients
- The rich buttery flavor is enhanced with hints of orange and vanilla
- This cake can be served in a variety of ways
Sometimes it's the simple things that can make a big impact. A smile from a stranger when you're feeling blue, or discovering a dollar in your pocket.
Sometimes an unexpected flavor can surprise and delight. Take Orange Vanilla Pound Cake, for example. A hint of orange and vanilla perfume lifts this ordinary-looking pound cake into something unique and special.
Look at this pretty orange vanilla pound cake! Its elegance belies its simplicity, and is a perfect choice to serve for a special event or holiday celebration. Served any time of the year, the bright citrus notes are especially appropriate for a taste of springtime during the cold winter months. Christmas cake, anyone?
This type of cake has a wonderful, buttery flavor with a dense texture that's perfect for strawberries and cream. Or how about lightly toasted to have with a cup of coffee at breakfast?
I won't tell.
Another way to enjoy this cake is in a traditional English trifle, that lovely layered dessert with pudding, whipped cream, and jam.
However you enjoy this Orange Vanilla Pound Cake, it is sure to surprise and delight. After all, it's a simple thing!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Excellent dense cake, dry moist, with a lovely flavor. While a little fiori di Sicilia goes a long way I didn't think it was overpowering. I served this to guests and it got four positive reviews.
- Cindy
Recipe Ingredients
You'll need the following ingredients to make this orange vanilla cake recipe:
Ingredient Notes
This quick bread recipe ratio is probably the easiest one of all, 1 : 1 : 1 : 1, or one part each butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. This recipe ratio is by weight, like all the recipe ratios I discuss, so a kitchen scale is really helpful. I also provide the volume measurement in the recipe, but they're just not as memorable.
Now, if you were to follow that simple recipe ratio for pound cake, you'd actually get two loaves when baked in a standard loaf pan. So my recipe is actual an Orange Vanilla Half-Pound Cake, but that didn't sound as inviting.
Butter and eggs: For ease of creaming and mixing, have the butter and eggs at room temperature.
No baking soda or baking powder: Classic pound cake recipes lack chemical leavening, but that's not a mistake.
Beating the butter and sugar together well insures that the sugar is fully distributed in the butter and gets air trapped in the mixture. As the butter evaporates, that air forms bubbles and lifts the cake. This gives traditional pound cakes that dense, tight crumb they're known for.
You will find pound cakes with leavening (usually baking soda with some sort of acid like buttermilk or sour cream), but that makes the cake lighter with a texture more like a sponge cake. I'm going old-school here.
Flavorings: Here we're using Fiori di Sicilia to flavor our pound cake. Literally translated to "Flowers of Sicily," Fiori di Sicilia is an extract of orange and vanilla with some floral notes in the background. Think of Orange Creamsicles, and you have the general flavor profile.
When used sparingly, Fiori di Sicilia adds a little extra oomph to items that don't have too many flavors going on, like a buttery shortbread cookie. The same principle applies to recipes for pound cake, which basically uses butter as the predominate flavor.
And note that I said sparingly. Like almond extract, Fiori di Sicilia can overpower an item to the point of bitterness. Figure if you'd use one teaspoon of vanilla extract, use ¼ teaspoon of Fiori di Sicilia. If you don't have Fiori di Sicilia, you can use 1 tablespoon of orange zest and increase the vanilla to 2 teaspoons. See below for a suggestion to intensify the orange flavor.
See the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to add more orange flavor
For more intense orange flavor, you can use ⅓ cup (85 grams) of frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed to room temperature) mixed with two tablespoons (28 grams) of freshly squeezed lemon juice (at room temperature).
When it's time to add the flour to the batter, instead add about ⅓ of the flour to the batter, stirring to combine. Stir in about half the orange juice mixture, then another third of the flour, the remaining orange juice, and the remaining flour.
How to make pound cake
Step 1: Combine butter, sugar, salt, and eggs
The most important thing to remember is to really cream the butter and sugar together well before moving on to the eggs. You'll know you're ready when the mixture has increased in volume and is a pale yellow (photo 1).
Step 2: Add flavorings and flour
As you're adding the rest of the ingredients (the eggs, vanilla, Fiori di Sicilia, and flour), go easy on the beating so you don't lose that volume you created in the butter (photo 2).
Step 3: Bake the cake
Bake at 325°F for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the cake is a light golden brown and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean (photo 3).
Storage instructions
Pound cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. For longer storage (up to 6 months), wrap the cake well in plastic wrap, then freeze in an airtight bag.
Yield Notes
This old fashioned pound cake recipe is written using a half pound of each ingredient, and will make one large loaf, 4 mini loafs, or made in a 6-cup bundt pan and baked as directed. You can double the recipe to make two large loaves (made in standard loaf pans) or bake in a 10- to 12-cup bundt pan (just increase the baking time by 25 to 30 minutes).
Hints for pound cake success
- Don't over-mix the batter as you're mixing it. You don't want to lose the air you've incorporated. If your batter looks like curds or it's weeping, the emulsion has broken. If this happens gently add more flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the texture recovers. Otherwise your cake may come out grainy, uneven, and sinking.
- During baking, make sure to place the pan in the center of the oven and keep the door closed until the cake has baked for the minimum amount of time. If after testing the cake needs more time, quickly but gently close the oven door to prevent heat loss and jarring the cake - both can cause a cake to fall if it's not done.
- Allow the cake to rest in the pan for at about 15 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack. Moving too soon might cause the cake to break, while waiting too long might make the cake stick to the pan.
Questions asked and answered
Here are some questions you might have...
Unlike most cakes, pound cake doesn't rely on any chemical leavening agents (baking soda or baking powder) to made the cake rise. Instead, the air trapped in the butter lifts the cake as the butter melts. This also results in a denser crumb than in other types of cake.
Pound cakes were developed in Northern Europe in the early 18th century, and the name derives from the amounts of the 4 primary ingredients. A pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour were measured out and beaten together. Since butter and sugar need to be well creamed to get the cake to rise, you can imagine how exhausting this was to make before the advent of electric mixers!
You can refrigerate it, but it's not necessary. Pound cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. For longer storage (up to 6 months), wrap the cake well in plastic wrap, then freeze in an airtight bag.
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I hope you like this recipe! Let me know if you have any questions, and don't forget to leave a comment and rating. Thanks!
Slainté! L'chaim! Cheers!
- Tammy
More trifle cake recipes to try
Recipe
Orange Vanilla Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia, see Recipe Notes
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 °F. Spray a standard loaf pan with baking spray. If desired, line the pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the long sides, then spray the parchment.
- Place 1 cup unsalted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat for 1 minute at medium speed. Add 1¼ cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon kosher salt, then beat on medium-high speed until the sugar is fully incorporated and the butter is pale yellow, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add 4 large eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined. Mix in 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add 1¾ cups all-purpose flour, beating just until the flour is mixed in.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the cake is a light golden brown and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes. Turn the cake out onto the rack to cool completely.
- Storage instructions: Pound cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. For longer storage (up to 6 months), wrap the cake well in plastic wrap, then freeze in an airtight bag.
Cindy says
Excellent dense cake, dry moist, with a lovely flavor. While a little fiori di Sicilia goes a long way I didn’t think it was overpowering. I served this to guests and it got four positive reviews.
Tammy Spencer says
Glad you liked this cake, Cindy! 🙂
Hilrie M Kemp says
Increase sugar by 1/2 cup, reduce the flour by 1/2 cup, add salt and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to the flour, not sugar... omit 1 egg... reduce fiori di sicilia by 1/8 teaspoon...