First recipe of the yeat, and this time I’m trying something different: not preheating the oven! This cake goes into a cold oven and bakes as its preheating. It takes a bit longer, but the texture is fabulous and worth every single minute.

What you need

Cake

• 1 cup salted butter, softened (2 sticks)
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon blood orange juice
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon blood orange zest
• 2 teaspoons rosemary

Glaze

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon blood orange juice
• 1 tablespoon salted butter
• 1 tablespoon water

How you do it

1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or wax paper. Do not turn on the oven.
2. In a small bowl or cup, combine the milk and blood orange juice. Let sit for 10 minutes. The juice will thicken the milk, so once this occurs, you’re ready to use it.
3. Zest the blood orange. Along with rosemary, mix into flour. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
5. Going one at a time, add in the eggs. Follow with the vanilla.
6. Add in the flour and milk in the following order: flour, milk, flour, milk.
7. Por into prepared pan. Put in oven and turn on. Bake at 300F for 95-110 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
8. When the pound cake is almost done baking, begin to make the glaze. Combine all the ingredients, adjusting until desired consistency is reached (more water for a thinner consistency; more powered sugar for a thinner consistency).
9. When done baking, remove from oven. Let cool for 5 minutes and slice.
10. Drizzle over the glaze.

Enjoy hot, or you can eat it cold– both choices are good!

What I love is that this pound cake smells as good as it tastes. The rosemary, both in taste and scent, is definitely the star. Plus, the blood orange, not quite as sharp as a regular orange, pairs surprisingly well with the rosemary.

Until next time,

Danielle