The sweets are starting to add up around here, just as they should at this time of year. I baked this Potuguese Orange-Olive Oil pound cake Monday night, and it was just the right antidote to the plethora of rich, chocolaty candies and cookies invading our office. It was for the birthday of a good friend (and co-worker), and then later I took it to my sewing class, and even later, I ate some for dinner. We might have even had a bit for breakfast.
I first made this recipe with E when she was doing a presentation on an explorer. She had to bring in dishes from her explorer’s country of origin – Portugal – and we found this recipe and gave it a try. It was delicious and the kids gobbled it up. I knew I would make it again.
Instead of butter, you use a generous helping of olive oil. The citrus is so good in here – although it takes a fair amount of oranges to get 1-1/2 cups of juice. The zest goes in as well. If you are looking for a relatively easy holiday cake to take somewhere – pound cake is the perfect answer. It’s rich, but not that kind of decadent / overly rich and sweet dessert that some pies and tortes or even frosted cakes can be. It’s sturdy, and it gets better with age. The link to the recipe is here. The cake cooks for approx. 75 minutes – so set the timer to an hour and check it then, and every 5 minutes or so afterwards. Both of mine have been perfect at 70 minutes.
We’ll likely polish off the rest after dinner tonight, which I’m hoping will fuel me up for the long night ahead. There’s always one really late night of the season, and Day Nineteen is it!
It was the perfect antidote, thank you 🙂
RK