Orange Pound Cake
The burst of citrus in this Orange Pound Cake recipe makes it a year-round treat. The buttery dense pound cake is filled with the bright flavor of fresh orange juice and zest making it both delicious and refreshing.
Ingredients to Make Orange Pound Cake Recipe
This fresh orange cake has a tender crumb and fresh orange flavors with a burst of citrus in every bite. How do pound cakes differ from other cakes? Pound cakes were originally made using a pound of butter, flour, sugar and eggs, hence the name. They have evolved through the years with bakers putting their own spin on them, and changing ingredients and the amounts. This fresh orange juice cake highlights the citrus flavor of fresh oranges with a moist crumb and taste the whole family will love. Ingredients you’ll need to make this Southern Orange Pound Cake: (Scroll down for full printable recipe card.)
- All Purpose Flour: This forms the base of the cake batter.
- Leavening: One teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and salt provide lift for the batter.
- Butter: Softened butter, you can use salted or unsalted butter.
- Granulated Sugar: Pound cakes generally feature a sweet dense batter and in this case using white sugar.
- Flavoring: Vanilla extract adds another dimension to the overall flavor.
- Orange Juice and Orange Zest: Fresh OJ and orange zest are the star flavors bringing citrus notes to the batter.
- Eggs: Large eggs will make the cake rise.
- Milk: You can use milk or half and half to make a super creamy pound cake batter.
- Orange Syrup: Granulated sugar and orange juice.
- Glaze: Powdered sugar, fresh orange juice and orange zest.
How to Make the BEST Orange Pound Cake
- Prepare Pan and Preheat Oven – Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a bundt pan, or spray with baking spray.
- Dry Ingredients – Use a whisk to sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. .
- Creamed Ingredients – Cream together unsalted or salted butter, sugar and vanilla then add the eggs and orange zest.
- Eggs – Add eggs one at a time, beating to combine, add orange zest.
- Wet Ingredients – Stir together orange juice and milk.
- Combine – Add orange juice mixture alternately with flour mixture.
- Cake Batter – Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake per the recipe until a toothpick inserted into the center comes back clean.
- Make Orange Syrup – Mix together remaining sugar and orange juice. Simmer on the stovetop.
- Poke Holes in Cake – Spoon orange syrup over cake allowing it to sink in before adding more to the cake. Repeat process until all of the syrup is used. Cool cake completely in pan.
- Make Orange Glaze – Stir together powdered sugar, orange juice and zest until fully combined. Flip pan and turn cake onto a serving platter or cake stand. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake.
Tips for Making Pound Cake
- Kitchen Tools You’ll Need: Stand mixer or hand mixer, large bowl, medium bowl, small bowl, 10-12 cup bundt pan, measuring cups, measuring spoons, wire rack and whisk.
- Use Fresh Ingredients: Use fresh flour, eggs and butter. Also check the dates on your baking powder and baking soda. If they’re out of date the cake won’t rise.
- Use a Whisk to Sift the Dry Ingredients: It’s not necessary to use an old fashioned sifter to sift the flour as pound cakes are a dense cake by nature. They’re not light and airy like a classic layer cake.
- Eggs: Eggs are sometimes the only leavening that’s used in Southern pound cake recipes. This varies from recipe to recipe depending on the flavor and the baker’s preference. This pound cake recipe does include both baking powder and baking soda to give lift to the batter.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: For this cake, I recommend allowing the butter, eggs, orange juice and milk to be room temperature prior to starting. This will allow the cake to bake evenly.
- Use a Large Bundt Pan: Pound cakes can be baked in an angel food cake pan or a bundt pan. The amount of batter in this pound cake will fit in a bundt pan.
- Serving Suggestions: You can serve this cake just as is, or with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream and fresh berries.
Recipe Variations
- Loaf Pans: You can divide the cake batter and make two loaves out of this recipe. They won’t take as long to bake, so check them halfway through baking inserting a toothpick into the center to test for doneness.
- Angel Food Pan: You can bake this cake in an angel food pan as well.
- Glaze: You can dust this cake simply with powdered sugar and omit the glaze.
- Milk: You can use half and half, heavy cream or buttermilk in place of milk.
- Lemon Pound Cake: If you’d like a lemon pound cake variation, checkout my recipe for Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake.
Storage and Leftovers
- Leftovers: Store leftover Orange Pound Cake on the counter in an airtight container, wrapped in plastic wrap or aluminum foil for up to 4 days. The shelf life is longer when stored chilled in the fridge with it lasting for up to 1 week.
- Freezer: Pound cakes freeze extremely well. You can pop this cake into the freezer and store it frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
More Southern-Style Pound Cake Recipes to Make
There’s hardly an occasion where a pound cake wouldn’t be the ideal choice for dessert.
- Satisfy your banana pudding craving with this Banana Pudding Pound Cake that’s become a fan favorite.
- You can never go wrong when serving Million Dollar Pound Cake for dessert. Serve it as is or with fresh berries and whipped cream.
- This dreamy vanilla glazed Coconut Cream Pound Cake. among many others.
- White Chocolate Cherry Cream Cheese Pound Cake is pretty in pink!
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Pound Cake will satisfy the peanut butter cup fans in your life.
- Cold weather options such as Pumpkin Spice Pound cake and Eggnog Pound Cake are a given for our Christmas desserts.
- Lemon Pound Cake Muffins from Recipe Girl.
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Helpful Kitchen Items:
Orange Pound Cake
Servings: 16 slices
Calories: 456kcal
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups butter (salted or unsalted) softened
- 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar divided
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup fresh orange zest (6 Tbsp adjust to your taste)
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice room temperature
- 1/2 cup milk or half and half room temperature
- Orange Syrup:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 1-2 Tbsp fresh orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a standard 10-12 cup bundt pan, or spray with baking spray. Set aside.
- Cake: In a medium size mixing bowl, use a whisk to sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, 2 1/2 cups sugar and vanilla on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add orange zest, beating until combined. Stop and scrape the bowl periodically.
- Mix together 1/2 cup orange juice with milk. Lower the speed of the mixer and add juice-milk mixture alternately with sifted dry ingredients, beginning and ending with flour. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl periodically.
- Pour batter into pan and spread evenly. Place the pan into oven and bake for 75-80 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes back clean. Check halfway through baking and lay foil on top to prevent over browning, if needed.
- Orange Syrup: Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat mix together remaining 1/2 cup sugar with reserved 1/2 cup orange juice. Simmer over medium heat just until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
- When cake is finished baking, use a long skewer to poke holes in the cake. Slowly spoon orange syrup over cake allowing it to sink in before adding more to the cake. Repeat process until all of the syrup is used. Cool cake completely in pan.
- Glaze: In a small bowl mix together powdered sugar, orange juice and zest until fully combined. Flip pan and turn cake onto a serving platter or cake stand. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake.
- Store cake in an airtight container chilled or at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Loaf Pans: You can divide the cake batter and make two loaves out of this recipe. They won’t take as long to bake, so check them halfway through baking inserting a toothpick into the center to test for doneness.
- Angel Food Pan: You can bake this cake in an angel food pan as well.
- Glaze: You can dust this cake simply with powdered sugar and omit the glaze.
- Milk: You can use half and half, heavy cream or buttermilk in place of milk.
- Lemon Pound Cake: If you’d like a lemon pound cake variation, checkout my recipe for Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 456kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 116mg | Sodium: 290mg | Potassium: 137mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 47g | Vitamin A: 694IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @melissassk or tag #melissassk!
Could I make a small 6” cake with 1/2 recipe?
You can halve this recipe, yes.
Thank you for the reply!! Would the temperature and baking time be the same?
The temperature would not change but of course the baking time may be shorter. You’ll have to monitor it for doneness depending on the size of your pan and how your oven performs.
Hello Melissa,
Instead of milk, can I use sour cream or yogurt?
Thank you!
Yes, you can substitute with sour cream or yogurt.
I made it for mother’s day… it is absolutely delicious and moist… will be my all time favourite orange cake for the rest of my life…
Thank you so much!
I made this cake yesterday and must say it was the most moist and perfect crumb pound cake I made ever.
Instead of orange I had used Mandarin jest and juice, but it took nothing away from the perfect texture of the cake.
I have made this cake all season with fresh oranges from my tree. It’s the best orange cake recipe I have found
Thank you so much!
I haven’t made this yet. I was looking for an orange pound cake recipe to make a lamb cake for Easter. Do you think a chocolate buttercream frosting would taste good with this recipe? I like the chocolate/orange combination, but haven’t experimented yet. Thank you!
This is one of those times that it’s completely up to personal preference. If you like that flavor combination then it should be fine with this orange pound cake recipe.
I made this cake for a dinner party and it was a huge hit. It is a long process but worth it if you have the time. I fresh squeezed all of my orange juice for extra rich orange flavor and used the max on zest all around. My cake stuck to the pan also and I will probably butter and flour next time. The good news is that the glaze covered most of the damage. Love it and recooked it 😋.
Thanks so much!
Made this in 1.5 fl oz mini bundt tins. Delightful. Thank you! Just what I was looking for to inaugurate my ‘baby bundts’.
Sounds great, thanks!
Well I made this today for a thank you to someone and we shared it with all my neighbors…everyone love it. So moist and flavorful…thanks for a great recipe.
I’m so happy you all loved it, thank you!
Where can I find the recipe?
You scrolled past it to leave this comment.
This sounds delicious! I want to make this cake for a friends birthday, she loves Orange pound cake. If you were going to bake the cake 2 days before presenting would you wait to glaze it until day of or will the glaze hold up in the fridge?
What a great friend! You can do it either way, it will hold up to chilling. That said, for the prettiest presentation, the day you’re serving would be my pick.
Hi Melissa,
I have been diagnosed with celiac, can any of these pound cake recipes be made gluten-free?
Hi Vivian, I’m sorry to hear that, it’s a challenge. I don’t have any gluten free cake recipes, but they likely could be adapted using a different flour. It’s not quite as simple as an equal swap, though. If you try and adapt any, let us know how it goes.
I made this recipe using Bob’s Red Mill gluten free 1 to 1 flour and it turned out great!
It was very good. I didn’t use as much orange zest but i think it still tasted orangey enough.
Made this for a friend who loves orange cake and it was a big hit. Super buttery, great crumb. I used half n half in place of milk, and made sure the butter was nice and warm – really a key to making a beautiful pound cake. I’d use even more zest next time – but it was well liked. Thank youn
Thanks so much!
I made this cake yesterday, I was excited to try the orange recipe! It did not turn out well, it looked great, but the consistency of the cake was strange, it was like a cornbread, but a little tough. What did I do wrong?
This cake is moist and should never be crumbly or tough. It may have been over beaten and/or over baked. Pound cakes are dense by nature but, not as you describe.
Hi Melissa, if we bake this cake using convection bake 325 degrees, would the cooking time be reduced?
Hi Joseph, possibly but, I haven’t tested it. If you try it, let us know how it goes.
I made this cake earlier this week. The only problem I had was getting it out of the Bundt pan. I used Wiltons cake spray to prepare the pan. It is delicious I just wished it looked better!
I can’t image why the spray let you down. I often use a baking spray for this and other cakes and. it does fine. Maybe try the old school butter and flour the pan technique.
I made this cake but it didnt rise.Do I need to set the oven on 350% instead of 325?
You may want to check the date on your baking powder and baking soda, if the cake didn’t rise.
Hi .. for milk you’ve mentioned as 1/2 cup milk or half and half. Can you please explain. Want to try baking this soon. Thanks
You can use milk or half and half in the same amount. Half and half is half milk and half cream.
Can I make these as muffins?
I haven’t tested this pound cake as muffins, if you try it let us know how it goes.
I would like to make this pound cake but I was wondering if I could make it with almond flour because my granddaughter needs gluten free?
I haven’t tested this cake with almond flour but, it could probably be adapted, sure. Let us know, if you try it.
I made this cake yesterday, following the recipe exactly. It is wonderful!! My nephew said it’s the best he’s ever tasted. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe with us!
Thank you so much!
Hey Melissa is the 1/3 cup of zest correct?
Yes, 1/3 cup.