Cardamom Pound Cake with Candied Blood Orange Glaze

The base of this Cardamom Pound Cake with Candied Blood Orange Glaze is adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s “Perfect Pound Cake” recipe from her book The Cake Bible. In our humble opinion, she has perfected the basic pound cake recipe… period. While most traditional pound cakes call for equal pound weights of flour, sugar, and eggs, Beranbaum’s includes milk, baking powder, and extra butter.  You will be pressed to find a plain vanilla pound cake that beats hers.

Let’s talk a little about pound cake:

While we do love simplicity, pound cake boarders the edge of boring. This is the cake you’re parents most likely ate. And while we did always eat it with them we most probably always wished this was some birthday cake with chocolate frosting filled with sugar and more sugar. We however have grown up (not to say we don’t like birthday cake) but we now appreciate the simple balance of a piece of pound cake with a sweetened cup of tea. 

What we especially like about Beranbaum’s “perfect pound cake ” is that it gives you the opportunity to experiment with any flavors you like. Classics like lemon poppyseed and chocolate or change it up with pumpkin pie spice or hazelnut. It could be anything you want it to be. And we decided we wanted this to be a cardamom cake with a candied blood orange glaze. This pound cake is an absolute dream with the moistest, buttery, melt in your mouth texture you have ever had. We can’t think of a better cake to serve for an afternoon tea with friends. 

Things to keep in mind : 

• The milk, butter, and eggs need to be at room temperature. When these dairy ingredients are allowed to come to room temperature air gets trapped inside them. Then while we bake them the air expands and we get a fluffier baked good. Also, cold ingredients just don’t incorporate well together and you’ll get an uneven batter. So trust us when a recipe calls for room temperature ingredients make sure you take the time to do it. 
• Cake Flour is best in this recipe. However, if you don’t have some on hand, for 1 cup of cake flour substitute ¾ cup bleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tbsp cornstarch. This recipe calls for 1 ½ cup of cake flour so you will need ¾ cup + 6tbsp flour and 3 tbsp cornstarch.
• Greasing and flouring your loaf pan: Beanubum sights baking spray as the ideal greasing ingredient. So we used this and then carefully floured the pan ensuring that we got all the edges and corners. She warns against using normal butter because people always miss areas. You can use vegetable oil as long as you ensure that you cover the whole interior of the tin and flour well. We would suggest cutting a piece of baking paper that fits only on the bottom of the pan for this method.
• When baking it’s best to weigh ingredients if you can. You will get a much more accurate measurement.
•  Do not overbake. Overbaking will encourage a drier crumb. At Around 45 min we like to check at 5-minute intervals with a wood kebab stick inserted into the middle of the cake. When it comes out with very small crumbs or clean it’s done. 
• Don’t forget to cover the cake 30min into baking with a buttered sheet of aluminum foil to prevent over-browning. 
• Store in an airtight container for three days at room temperature or 1 week refrigerated. For freezing, do not glaze the cake. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap then in a layer of aluminum foil after it has completely cooled. Place in your freezer for 2 months.  To defrost remove from the freezer and thaw without unwrapping. It will take around 5 hours to completely thaw. Then proceed with making the candied blood orange glaze.
• We love the drama the color of blood oranges adds to this recipe, but the flavor is quite similar to a normal orange. Feel free to substitute normal oranges if you can not kind find blood oranges.

Here is what you’ll need

Lets make the Cardamom Pound Cake:

Preheat oven to 175°C. Using cooking spray grease and flour your small loaf pan.

In a medium-sized bowl lightly whisk and combine the room temperature milk, room temperature eggs, and vanilla.

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Then in the bowl of your stand mixer combine your sifted cake flour + salt + sugar + baking powder+cardamom. We are going to mix on low speed for 30 seconds just to make sure they are blended together.

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To the stand mixer were going to add the room temperature butter + half the egg mixture mixing on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened.

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Increase the mixer’s speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl well. Then go ahead and add the remaining egg mixture and beat for 20 seconds just until incorporated.

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Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until a wooden stick inserted into the center comes out clean. There is nothing worse than a dry pound cake. So after 45 minutes, we like to check with a wooden kebab stick inserted into the middle at 5-minute intervals. After 30 minutes of baking cover with a buttered aluminum foil sheet to prevent over-browning. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Then invert onto the rack and flip over. Allow the cake to completely cool before glazing.

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For The Candied Blood Orange Slices

To us this is easily half of this pound cake’s flavour. Its a super easy step that produces so much flavour and is stunning to look at. It takes about 45-50 minutes to make which is about the time it takes for our cardamom pound cake to bake. So start with this immediately after placing your cake in the oven.

Wash 1 blood orange very well. We like to scrub the skin with the back of a clean sponge. Slice your blood orange to about .3cm thickness. Place a medium saucepan over high heat. Add in 200 ml of water + 150 grams of sugar. Stir to combine and bring to a boil until all sugar crystals have completely dissolved, the syrup should be translucent. Place your orange slices into the syrup (the slices should be covered) and turn down the heat to a low simmer. Cover your saucepan with a lid and cook for 45-50 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the blood orange slices to cool in the syrup.

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If you have any slices left over, place them in an airtight container sitting in the syrup and store in the fridge for up to 2 months.

*note on blood orange substitution: Feel free to substitute normal oranges if you can not kind find blood oranges.

The Blood Orange Glaze

This is beyond easy, just whisk together 1/4 of a cup blood orange juice + 170 grams of powdered sugar +½ tsp vanilla until combined and smooth.

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Putting this Cardamom Pound Cake with Candied Blood Orange Glaze together

After your pound cake has cooled on the wire rack. We like to place a sheet of aluminum foil or baking paper under the wire rack for easy cleanup. Then pour the glaze on top of your pound cake. One by one layer your candied blood orange slices on top. Some of the syrup from the candied blood oranges will end up on your pound cake don’t worry about that it adds a ton of flavor and is easily one of our favorite parts of this cake.

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Cut with a serrated knife to easily cut through the candied oranges. Serve with some tea and Enjoy !

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If you try this Cardamom Pound Cake with Candied Blood Orange Glaze, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #thetablediaries on Instagram. We love seeing all the recipes you and your family enjoy.