Orange Pound Cake Recipe

Are you ready? Are you ready for the cake that Andrew ate three slices of last night? (Ok, I might have helped.)

This cake, as with my other favorite cake (which is yes, a pound cake), starts with cream cheese. Not sure what it is about the cream cheese, but it ups the cake a notch. It makes it super moist and super delicious.

The other special part of this cake is the zest! Oh yes! The zest! I used orange zest, but you could use lemon zest or lime zest or grapefruit zest…zest away! Also, after typing the word “zest” this many times, it’s starting to sound weird. But anyways…do some zesting. I really like using my microplane. It’s a very satisfying task. Then, mush your zest into your sugar. I tried to do it into the bowl at first, but it works much better on a flat surface. Clearly I was not precise enough with my mashing to need that cutting board. The result is a lovely, fragrant sweet sugar that totally brings out the zestiness of the zest. That also goes into the batter for a nice subtle flavor.

So go make this cake! It will make your life better!

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 Tbsp orange zest
• 6 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 325°. Butter and flour a bundt pan or two loaf pans. I used two loaf pans.

Beat the butter and cream cheese with a mixer until smooth.

Add the sugar and beat until fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, making sure to scrape down the sides frequently.

Add the vanilla, then the flour and salt and mix until just incorporated.

Pour into the prepared pan(s) and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes until the top is golden brown and a tester comes out clean.