Orange Cream Cheese Pound Cake

It's your lucky day! This Orange Cream Cheese Pound Cake is moist, full of orange flavor and has a fine, golden crumb, and is finished with a delicious orange glaze.

Jump to Recipe

Why I love this recipe

• It's a perfect option for breakfast, snack, or dessert.
• Easily impress your family or guests with this orange cream cheese pound cake
• Bonus. It comes together quickly!

Ingredients for Orange Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I like to share a little about why each ingredients makes this recipe great.

• Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (220g) has a better quality "lift"
• Cornstarch - added to your flour turns your dry mix into cake flour quality
• Baking Powder (4g) is your leavening.
• Salt (6g)
• Sugar,  Fine Castor or Granulated (300g) - a superfine sugar will dissolve better for a velvety mouthfeel. If you don't have fine sugar, simply use standard granulated.
• Orange Zest from 3 oranges (16g/.5oz) - brings the orange flavor to life!
• Butter softened (227g = 2sticks) - room temp blends easier and assists the lift of your cake.
• Cream Cheese softened (113g) - this is your moist magic, nobody likes a dry cake and this is your ticket to why this recipe is so perfect.
• Orange Juice (60ml/divided) for both your batter and glaze. Simply squeeze fresh juice from the oranges you zested. You can make orange cream cheese pound cake all year long, but it's better during citrus season when there are more varieties of oranges, and oranges are at their peak flavor. My favorite variety of orange is Cara Cara oranges.
• Vanilla Extract pure (5ml) - I stick with the best to deliver the true magic of vanilla.
• Eggs room temp (250g) - the recipe takes 5 large eggs which average 50g each. Don't worry if you did not take your eggs out, to speed up, place refrigerated eggs in a cup of warm water for 10 minutes, that's it! The temperature of your ingredients has a direct correlation to the success of your recipe and a quality rise in the oven.
• Powdered Sugar (180g) for making your glaze. Be sure to sift well to eliminate lumps.
• Heavy Cream 40% fat (30ml) to give your glaze a bright white look and to create structure on the cake. I am partial to Darigold USA brand 40% fat.

How to Make Orange Cream Cheese Pound Cake

It's really very simple, but I've included detailed instructions to keep you on track.

1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 325°F/163°C and prepare 9”x5” metal loaf pan (2lb/900g) with parchment or butter/floured, shaking any excess flour out.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Blend together sugar and orange zest to release orange oils. You can use your finger to rub together, or simply toss together with a fork.
4. Beat the butter and cream cheese on high speed for 1-2 minutes until light, soft and fluffy. This can be done with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
5. Now add your orange sugar to your butter and cream cheese mixture and cream together.
6. Add half of your dry ingredients and beat for 1-2 minutes on medium speed. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides before adding the next step.
7. Add the orange juice, vanilla extract, and 2 eggs, one at atime.  Do not overmix.
8. Now add the other half of your dry goods, batter will be stiff.
9. Continue adding the remaining 3 eggs, one at a time, being careful not to over mix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
10. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
11. Bake for 60-65 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. Toothpick should be clean when inserted into center. (Note: if baking in a glass loaf pan, the pound cake will need a longer time to bake)
12. Remove from the oven, allow to sit in pan for 10-15 minutes. Then invert cake onto a wire rack.
13. Make the glaze: whisk together the sifted powdered sugar, juice and heavy cream. If you prefer a thinner glaze add a splash more orange juice until desired consistency is reached. Spread over cooled cake, slice and enjoy!

Tips for Success!

I love sharing useful tips, so check these out.

• Either weigh or use the spoon and level method for your dry ingredients so you’re not ending up with too much flour. I’m a huge proponent of weighing for speed and accuracy.
• Temperature of ingredients is important. Room temperature is key! Butter should be soft, but not overly soft. To test the perfect temperature, poke the butter with your finger, it should be easy to make an indentation without losing its shape.
• Add the eggs slowly: keep the mixer running on low speed and add in eggs one at a time. Don’t rush the process! The fact of chemistry is, eggs and butter do not mix naturally. Butter is 80% fat, while eggs contain a lot of water, adding them slowly gives them time to thicken and emulsify to avoid curdling and retaining air for a lighter more tender cake.
• For a perfect center crack at the top of your baked loaf, draw a line of butter down the center of your batter prior to baking. Simply place a little butter in a baggie, snip a small corner cut and pipe onto the center of your batter.
• Bake to proper doneness: over baking will lead to a dry pound cake, remember it continues to bake while it’s cooling. When inserting a toothpick in the center, you will be left with a few moist crumbs, that’s perfect. Do not leave cake in the pan too long, move to a cooling rack after 10 minutes.
• Keep in mind your altitude, higher altitudes bake longer, while lower altitudes near sea level bake much quicker. So set a timer a little early, you can always bake longer, but you can't "unbake", that's why the toothpick test is very handy.