Orange Pound Cake with Nutella Swirling

12 loafs of Orange Pound Cake.

No, I do not bake for a living. These pound cakes were for my elder girl's school fund raising carnival. Her class was running a bakery stall she asked me to bake these pound cakes for sales at $5 for 3 slices. Besides pound cakes, the stall also carried cup cakes, fruit cakes, bars and cookies contributed by the parents of her other classmates.

The carnival started at 10am on Saturday morning. She excitedly called me at 1 pm to inform me that the pound cakes were all sold out. They are the first item being sold out among the rest. Many "customers" sampled the cake and gave very good comment on it. A few of them even bought the cake in loaf, instead of individual slices.

This is my first time baking pound cake as I am concern with the high fat and calorie content due to the relatively large amount of butter and sugar called for (compared to the many other type of cakes) in most traditional pound cake recipes.

I actually baked 13 loafs over 2 nights (5 on Thursday night and 8 on Friday night) as I wanted to sample my own cake to ensure that they are of "edible" standard. The citrus aroma from the baked cake was so nice and strong that I cannot resist to try a slice in the late Thursday night.

When hubby and my girls ate it on Friday morning, they love it too. Elder girl (she left the house for school before I woke up) left me a note to tell me that the cake is "soooooo yummy" :) She really knows well how to make me "work" for her without complaint.

The original recipe from Joy of Baking is for a standard buttery pound cake but as my daughter specifically asked for Orange Pound Cake, I have done some variations to the original recipe to come up with this Nutella-swirl Orange Pound Cake. I baked the 12 loafs over 3 batches and for each batch, I tripled the quantity. The recipe below yield one load (9x5x3 inch).

Orange Pound Cake with Nutella Swirling

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 3 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice (Original: 3 tbsp milk at room temperature)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (Original: 1½ tsp)
• Zest from 1 orange (Not in original recipe)
• 150g sifted plain flour (Original: Cake flour)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 100g caster sugar (Original: 150g)
• 185g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tbsp Nutella (Not in original recipe)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Butter the loaf pan and Line the bottom of the pan with baking paper. (I did not do the lining).
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, orange juice, vanilla extract and orange zest.
3. In another bowl, place the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar) and mix the ingredients until blended. Add the butter and half of the egg mixture. Mix on low speed with mixer until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about one minute to introduce air into the batter to develop the cake's structure. Slowly pour in the remaining egg mixture over 2 additions. Beating about 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the egg and strengthen the cake's structure. 
4. Scoop the one-third of the batter into the prepared pan and slightly smooth the surface. Drizzle 2 tablespoon of nutella along the top and cover it with the rest of the batter. Insert a knife into the batter and do a zip-zap swirling movement from one long end to the other end of the loaf pan. Lift up the knife only when it reaches the end so that the filling can be discretely hidden under the batter. Smooth the top with an offset spatula.
5. Bake for about 55 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. To prevent over-browning of the top before it is done, cover the top of the cake with a piece of lightly buttered aluminum foil after 30 minutes of baking.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely on a lightly buttered wire rack.