child hood memories – Peach Pear Plum Cafe

With just a few tweaks I made my grandmothers chocolate pound cake with a bit of a Florida twist. Florida oranges with a delicious chocolate cake, so good. You just can’t go wrong with a chocolate cake and orange glaze. It’s sweet yet tangy all in one bite. Another refreshing recipe just for you. I’m so grateful for a grandmother who shares her recipes, and this is one for the books. The recipe book that is.

Ingredients

Pound Cake:

3 sticks of unsalted butter (room temp)

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp. cocoa powder

1 cup of gran. sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Orange Glaze:

1 tbsp. fresh orange juice

1 tsp. orange extract

1 – 2 cups of confectioners sugar

Candied Orange Peel

1 Orange

1 cup of water

1 cup whole milk

Instructions

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add in eggs one at a time and beat well after each egg.

3. Sift the rest of the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

4. Scoop and dump in sifted dry ingredients (a cup at a time) and pour in milk (1/4 cup at a time) by alternating them. Blend well after each addition.

end result of dry ingredients and milk mixing

5. Add vanilla extract and beat well.

6. Grease tube pan or bundt pan with butter (or shortening) and if you’d like, dust it with cocoa powder (or flour).

buttered pan

butter and cocoa powder on pan

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

8. Add in the blended ingredients using a spatula and bake for 70 to 75 minutes.

9. While the cake is baking, peel the skin off of an orange. Slice the peel into thin strips.

10. Heat 1 cup of water in a pot on the stove. Add in sliced orange peel and simmer for about 15 minutes.

11. Add in a little more than 3/4 cup of sugar and stir. Continue to let simmer on medium low heat until the sugar dissolves. Stir occasionally so that it stays a simple syrup instead of caramel.

12. Drain the orange peels using a metal strainer and spread the peels out onto parchment paper on a pan.

13. Sprinkle the orange peels with the remainder of the sugar.

14. When the cake is finished baking, let it stand and cool before removing it from the pan.

15. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Place orange peels in the oven for one hour. The candied orange slices should be hard and dry when finished baking (set them aside for later).

16. Whip together the orange extract, orange juice and confectioners sugar until you get a nice smooth glaze that is easy to pour but thick enough to not run off the cake.

17. Cut off the end/bottom of the pound cake so that it sits perfectly on the cake stand or large dish and let it finish cooling. Then carefully drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.