#ImprovCookingChallenge ~ Orange Olive Oil Pound Cake

For October's #ImprovCookingChallenge we were given the ingredients of orange and olive oil to combine into a recipe. I wasn't quite sure which direction I wanted to go until I ran a few searches and came across this olive oil cake. I've never made an olive oil cake but was super curious! I knew it would be very moist - and the orange flavoring sounded like a lovely addition. 

I'm glad I gave this one a try! It was really tender, and it's absolutely the PERFECT tea cake / bread. The texture and flavor reminds me quite a bit of many of the quick breads I've made. It's labeled as a pound cake - and does have a fairly dense texture. But so much moisture in each bite - and a lovely light orange flavor. If you want a stronger orange flavor, up the extract content.

October Improv Cooking Challenge ~ Olive Oil and Orange

• • Glazed Orange Muffins by Veggies First, Then Dessert
  • Blood Orange Baked Squash by Palatable Pastime
  • Orange Olive Oil Pound Cake by Making Miracles
  • Olive Oil Fresh Orange Cake by Sneha’s Recipe
  • Orange Blast Sauce for Pork by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
  • Blood Orange Salad with Pecans and Blue Cheese by A Day in the Life on the Farm
  • Orange Cardamom Pound Cake by Cookaholic Wife
  • Halloween-Inspired Orange Ricotta Bundt Cake by Faith, Hope, Love and Luck Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
  
  
  
  Orange Olive Oil Pound Cake adapted from Epicurious
  
  Ingredients
  2 cups all-purpose flour
  1 tablespoon baking powder
  Pinch of salt
  3 large eggs
  1 cup sugar
  1 cup olive oil
  1 tsp orange extract
  3 TBS brandy
  1/2 cup OJ in cake
  1/2 cup buttermilk
  1/2 TBS dried lemon zest
  1/2 TBS dried orange zest
  
  Glaze
  1/4 cup orange juice
  1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
  
  Directions
  
  
  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with baking spray.
  2. Blend the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, blending between each addition. Add in the orange extract, brandy, orange juice, and buttermilk.
  3. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. 
  4. Slowly add in the dry ingredients in to the wet, blending just until combined. Do not overmix.
  5. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan, bake in the pre-heated oven for 1 hour 5 minutes, to 1 hour 10 minutes. 
  6. Combine glaze ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.
  7. Allow cake to cool in pan about 10 minutes before turning out onto cooling rack. Place a silpat under the cooling rack, and slowly pour glaze over warm cake, allowing it to soak in. Allow glaze to firm up before slicing and serving.