Orange Pound Cake

Hello My Darlings! Not to worry, I am back! For now. I know its been a while since my last update, but I'm back. Hooray! For my welcome back recipe, I decided to make a pound cake. But not just any pound cake. But ORANGE pound cake. Why, you may ask. My answer: I don't know; I just felt like it. There are different style of pound cakes: Southern Style, British Style, French Style, Mexican Style, Colombian Style, and even German Style.
For this, I'm going to make the American style [with orange]. At least I think its an American style. Pound cake are usually make up with flour, eggs, sugar, and butter. Liquids such as milk or extract are not required. Although there are some pound cake recipes that has milk or fruit juices. After baking, some would pour syrup on top so the cake can absorb the liquid and/or a glaze after the cake as completely cooled. I opted for a sweet sugary orange glaze, which it optional, for appearance.
In this recipe, to get the light and fine texture, the soften butter and sugar are creamed together until it is light and fluffy. The air incorporated into the butter and sugar while creaming helps give the cake the light texture. The orange zest gives the cake a refreshing flavor. Next time I think I'll try it with lemon zest. If you don't have any zest on hand, then just make a regular pound cake without any zest.

1 1/4 cups (5 oz) cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
Zest of 1 whole orange, minced
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (6 oz) sugar
3 eggs
Juice of orange (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Or grease the loaf pan.
2. Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy (about 5 minutes) with an electric mixer. Scrape the sides of the bowls occasionally.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add one tablespoon orange juice, optional.
5. Stir in orange zest
6. Sift flour mixture in the butter mixture and beat until smooth.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Make a lengthwise slit of 1 inch deep down the middle of the batter to prevent splitting as the cake bakes.
8. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
9. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert and cool completely on wired rack.
Optional Glazed: Mix powdered sugar and orange juice until consistency is desired. Pour/ spread on top of pound cake. Allow glaze to hardened before slicing.