Orange Pound Cake

Name: Orange Pound Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: Natural plain yogurt ½ cup; Eggs (about 3 medium) 6.5 oz; Type 00 flour 2 cups; Sugar 0.6 cup; Sunflower seed oil ½ cup; Orange peel 2; Orange juice (from about 2 oranges) ¼ cup; Baking powder 3 ¼ tsp; Cinnamon powder to taste; Butter to taste; Powdered sugar to taste

Vegetarian

Difficulty: Easy
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Serving: 8
Cost: Low

PRESENTATION

Recipe by
Valeria Ciccotti

This orange loaf cake skips butter entirely and builds on yogurt instead, landing softer and lighter than a standard loaf while filling the kitchen with a citrus fragrance the moment the batter goes into the oven. Both fresh orange juice and zest go into the mix, so the flavor isn't a background note—it runs all the way through the crumb. It's a winter-friendly breakfast cake that also holds up well as an afternoon snack, and it belongs to a loose family of simple homemade loaf cakes that share the same straightforward approach.

Yogurt does the structural work that butter usually handles, keeping the interior genuinely soft without weighing it down. The double hit of juice and zest pulls brightness and depth from a single piece of fruit, layering two forms of orange flavor into every slice. It's the kind of cake you cut at breakfast and find yourself returning to mid-afternoon—unfussy, fragrant, and easy to keep on the counter through the week.

INGREDIENTS

For a 12x4.5 inch loaf pan: Natural plain yogurt ½ cup (125 g); Eggs 6.5 oz (180 g) - (about 3 medium); Type 00 flour 2 cups (250 g); Sugar 0.6 cup (120 g); Sunflower seed oil ½ cup (100 g); Orange peel 2; Orange juice ¼ cup (50 g) - (from about 2 oranges); Baking powder 3 ¼ tsp (16 g); Cinnamon powder to taste

To grease the pan: Butter to taste

To sprinkle: Powdered sugar to taste

Preparation

How to prepare Orange Pound Cake

To prepare the orange pound cake, first squeeze the oranges after grating the zest: you'll need 50 g (about 1/4 cup) of juice and about 5 g (1 tsp) of zest. Place the whole eggs 1 and sugar 2 in a bowl and start whipping with an electric mixer until you obtain a frothy and fluffy mixture 3.

Add the yogurt 4 and vegetable oil 5, then continue mixing at a higher speed. Add the sifted flour 6.

Add the sifted baking powder 7 and incorporate the dry ingredients still using the mixer, then add the squeezed orange juice 8 and the grated zest 9.

Finally, add a pinch of ground cinnamon for aroma 10 and mix everything again to make the batter smooth and homogeneous 11. Pour the batter into a 12x4.5 inch loaf pan that you have greased beforehand 12.

Bake in a preheated static oven at 350°F for about 40 minutes 13. Always check the doneness with a toothpick before taking it out of the oven. Once cooked, remove from the oven and let it cool completely in the pan before taking it out 14. Sprinkle with powdered sugar to taste and enjoy your orange pound cake 15!