Orange Pound Cake

Zahraa,

This morning you woke up before your brother! You spotted me on the couch reading while covered with a blanket, as I felt it a bit chilly this morning. I immediately embraced you with excitement as you ran into my arms and under the warm blanket. You then told me you had dreamt about something funny, and indeed it was! A banana with a face, little arms, and hands. You then asked me if I had also dreamt about anything funny… However, I mentioned that I rarely have funny dreams, as they are mostly scary or just plain silly, but definitely not funny.

We also discussed plans for the day and today you declared that you would like to spend the whole day with me. I was so delighted but I just needed to tackle a few things beforehand, one of which was to sort through your closet! You wanted to spend “girly” time with me, and I thought a creative way would be to pretend that my bedroom is a Paris Boutique. You would come to my shop and pick out outfits for your upcoming trip to sunny California. I placed your clothes on the clothing rack and put some French classical music. You picked out my outfit, which was a black laced silk blouse with high-waisted black jeans and nude heels. You wore a pink ruffle blouse with floral leggings and a pink bow clipped onto your silky hair. You looked absolutely beautiful! You walked into the Boutique and I greeted you with “Bonjour!”, and you replied with “Bonjour”.

We giggled and you looked up at me and whispered: “Let’s not laugh, let’s pretend this is real!”. So, I obliged and we got back to our game, and you continued to pick out the clothes you intended to try on in the “fitting room” (Ali’s room). You then came back to me to show me how the clothes looked on you. I took notes on what fits and what should be set aside for donation. After that, you picked out a Minnie Mouse reusable bag to store all the clothes that still fit you and we wrapped up our little game.

Thereafter, we headed to the kitchen and prepared the tea. I had some orange pound cake already made. You picked out the teacup you wanted to drink with and we plated the orange pound cake on cute little plates with some crème chantilly and fresh strawberries. It was such a beautiful day to be in the garden, so we enjoyed our lovely afternoon tea outside under the shade.

with love,
Mama

Orange Pound Cake Recipe
Courtesy of Ina Garten

For the Pound Cake

• ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 2 cups of granulated sugar

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature

• 1/3 cup grated orange zest (6-8 oranges)

• 3 cups of All- Purpose Flour

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

• ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

• ¾ cup buttermilk, at room temperature

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 8 ½ by 4 ½ by 2 ½ inch loaf pans and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
Add butter and sugar to a bowl of a mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, and add the orange zest. Mix until combined.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, vanilla extract, and orange juice. Add the flour and buttermilk mixture, alternating, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (be sure to mix well before each addition).
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans. Smooth the tops and place in the preheated oven. Bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. To test the cakes, insert a cake tester and if comes out clean, the cakes are done.

Orange Simple Syrup

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

While the cakes are in the oven, make the orange simple syrup by combining the sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook mixture until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside.
When the cakes are done, place them on a heat proof service, and wait for about 10 minutes before removing them from the pan. Once cooled, remove the cakes from the pan, place them on a cooling rack. With a pastry brush, liberally brush the orange simply syrup on top of the loaf cakes. Allow the cake to cool completely.

Glaze

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

• 1 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

To glaze the cakes, place the sifted powdered sugar and orange juice in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. If you feel like you need more liquid to make it pourable, add a little bit more orange juice (start off with half teaspoon at a time until you achieve a pourable consistency). Pour the glaze into a cup with a spout and pour over the top of the cakes (this step can get messy, be sure to have a baking sheet under the rack before glazing to catch the glaze). Allow the glaze to dry completely before serving.

Crème Chantilly

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

Place the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or you can whisk by hand, simply use a large enough bowl with a good quality whisk). Whisk on low speed for about 30 seconds, when it slowly starts to firm, increase the speed to medium/high speed until you form stiff peaks. Be sure to not over beat, as the cream can start to curdle.

To serve, slice the cake about 1 inch thick and top with crème chantilly and fresh fruit (I used strawberries which pair nicely with orange)

Note: You can wrap the second loaf and freeze in the freezer for up to a month. Just place on your counter to thaw when needed.