Brûlée Orange and Cream Cheese Pound Cake

 [I]’m going to start a new line of pillows made exclusively out of this cream cheese pound cake.  Edible bed pillows.  Lay your head down at night and snack-and-sleep.  If we’re going to turn aaanny cake into a pillow, this is it.  

This is the softest, most tender cake thanks to both cream cheese and butter.  Sponge-y and moist without being cloying or obnoxious.  It’s the perfect pillow material.  Like memory foam but… edible cake.  

Or.  I suppose you could serve this cake sliced on platters and plates.  Also a viable option, just without the beauty rest.  Think about it.  

It’s almost hard to believe that these humble ingredients turn into such a soft and tender pound cake.  

Don’t tell the cream cheese and the eggs, but they do all of the major lifting in this pound cake.  Keep it a secret, the glory will go to their heads.  

Fresh orange zest is rubbed into the granulated sugar creating a fragrant and otherwise lovely scented sugar.  

We go the extra milk. 

Cream cheese, butter, and scented sugar are beaten together until pale and pretty.  

Here’s the deal, the cream cheese and butter need to be softened to room temperature… warm room temperature.  I go so far as to keep the block of cream cheese and butter on the counter the night before baking.  If the cream cheese or the butter is slightly chilled and offer even the slightest bit of chilled resistance… the dough will be spotted with dots of fat.  Not supremely idea.    Plenty of room temperature time to make the fats soft and pliable.  

Eggs are beaten into the fluffy sugary fats.  

This is when things get pretty luscious.  

Vanilla extract, and why not a little fresh orange juice too?

Flour, soda, powder, salt, and dynamite.  

(Not really… no TNT.  That was a joke.)

If the batter is thick and fluffy, you can count on your cake as also being thick and fluffy!

I baked this cake in a tall 10-inch spring-form pan.  The sides can be removed easily after baking revealing this beautifully golden pillow of a cake.   

Golden and pillowy.  And a few wrinkles never hurt nobody.  

As the cake cools, I use a paring knife to slice through the peel and pith of the oranges.   

Layer the orange slices across the top of the cake.  

Get out your kitchen blow torch and get really really excited! 

I sprinkled the sliced oranges with a generous amount of  granulated sugar and off to the races with the blowtorch.  We’re brûlée-ing the oranges atop the cake!

The end result is a crisp sugar orange top and the softest most pillow-y pound cake.  We’re successful and we know it. 

Brûlée Orange and Cream Cheese Pound Cake

• Author: Joy the Baker
• Prep Time: 30
• Cook Time: 45
• Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x

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Ingredients

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• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 2 tablespoons orange zest
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 4 oranges, peels cut off and sliced into rounds

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Instructions

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch Spring-form pan. dust with flour. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. On a clean cutting board or counter, place the 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Add the orange zest. With a bench scraper or the back of the spoon, work the zest into the granulated sugar, creating a fragrant and orange flavored sugar. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together softened butter and cream cheese. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the bowl and make sure that the butter and cream cheese are evenly mixed. Add the citrus zest to the butter and cream cheese mixture, and beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.
5. Stop the mixer. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. On medium speed, beat in one egg at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla extract and orange juice.
6. Add dry ingredients all at once. Beat on low speed until dry ingredients are completely incorporated.
7. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes, rotating once or twice during baking. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, or with just a few crumbs.

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