It makes no sense how much I continue to love Orange Creamsicles at my big age. Yet here I am, every summer, looking forward to it: an orange popsicle with vanilla ice cream. My obsession with Orange Creamsicles hit a new high (or low, depending on how you look at it) when inspiration hit: I could make an Orange Creamsicle Pound Cake!
Orange Creamsicles have always been so…satisfying to me. Just little sunshine bars of love. The orange popsicle’s initial chill always cooled my too-hot summer self instantly, making outdoor heat much more tolerable (which was probably some adult’s point in giving me the popsicle in the first place, now that I think about it…because we could never go indoors).
BUT THEN the vanilla ice cream hit. And to my 7-year-old self, that ice cream was luxury.
So, this summer, when thinking about what dessert would perfectly capture that satisfying, simple luxury, the Orange Creamsicle was at the tippy top of that list.
Beginners Start Here
If you’re new to baking, or if you want to brush up on basics, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Orange Creamsicle Pound Cake!
- Meet Your Kitchen BFF–Your Digital Kitchen Scale!
- Technique Tips for the Best Pound Cakes (& Big News!)
- How to Cream Butter and Sugar (With New Video!)
- Baking 101: How to Measure Ingredients
- How to Grease a Bundt Pan
- The Best Tools for Perfect Pound Cakes
- Knowing When to Stop a Technique
These resources are never mandatory reading, but they are super useful to help you understand the techniques that you’ll need to successfully execute this amazing cake. Happy Reading!
How to Make this Orange Creamsicle Pound Cake
The Batter
To start, heat your oven to a true 325°F and prep your mise en place. Having everything in one place, measured and ready to go, is one of the most important steps in all of baking. For this particular recipe, having your mise en place ready to go will also prevent you from feeling frazzled and out of control when it’s time to add the orange zest. ????
Start mixing by adding the butter and cream cheese to your mixing bowl and mixing them together until they’re cohesive and smooth. Room temperature ingredients are key for this step!
Next, add the sugar and cream together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Make sure that the butter/cream cheese/sugar combination looks airy and light, like the picture below, before you move on. This step is über important to cake rise!
After creaming the butter and sugar, add the eggs, one at a time. Mix each egg until you can’t see any traces whatsoever of that egg, before moving on to the next egg. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary (I usually scrape after the third and sixth egg in this recipe).
Add the pure vanilla extract and the orange zest and mix well. Prepare to be transported on waves of nostalgia as that orange zest releases its fragrance.
Resist the urge to sit down with the bowl and a spoon at this point please. Thanks so much.
Next, add roughly half of the flour mixture and mix until nearly combined.
Add all of the buttermilk and mix until nearly combined.
Finally, add the rest of the flour and mix until nearly combined.
Finish the batter by scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, and then stir the entire batter gently with the spatula until it’s smooth. Don’t get overzealous, Family. 5-7 turns of the spatula should be more than enough!
Prep your bundt pan and lovingly place your batter into the bundt pan. Bake for 60-75 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 210°F-215°F (my perfect temp is 212°F).
Place the cake pan on a cooling rack for ten minutes. After ten minutes, invert the cake onto the cooling rack and carefully remove the cake pan (it will still be hot!). Brush the cake with simple syrup and allow it to cool completely.
It’s going to take several hours before you can do the next step. Skedaddle away from the kitchen or you’ll ruin all of your hard work. Seriously.
The Final Glaze
Remember how I said that the vanilla ice cream was the luxury element of an Orange Creamsicle? Well, we’re upping that element on this cake with mascarpone. Specifically, a mascarpone vanilla-infused final glaze that’s just nose-scrunchingly delicious. And because mascarpone is fickle when it comes to temperature, you want to make sure that your cake is cooled to its core before you glaze it.
To start, gather your ingredients. Tip: measure your mascarpone and put it back in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
Yes, friends, mise en place matters here too!
Use a 9″ whisk and gently mix all of the ingredients together. It’s really important that you don’t over-mix this glaze or it will turn to soup.
Pour the glaze over the cake however you’d like. Allow it to set for a few more minutes and then…it’s go time.
Here’s an Instagram reel to show you how I made and glazed this cake!
I hope this Orange Creamsicle Pound Cake floods your senses with fun memories of summers past. If you make it, tag me on Instagram @beginwithbutter so I can tag you!
Enjoy the recipe!
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Orange Creamsicle Pound Cake
This Orange Creamsicle Pound Cake was inspired by one of my absolute favorite summer treats. It’s the simplicity of the orange and the luxury of the cream fused into one nostalgia-inducing bite.
Ingredients
For the Batter:
- 384 g all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 230 g butter, room temperature
- 115 g cream cheese, room temperature
- 500 g granulated sugar
- 6 eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 250 g buttermilk, room temperature
For the Simple syrup:
- 67 g sugar
- 84 g water
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
For the Mascarpone Glaze:
- 77 g mascarpone cheese, chilled
- 120 g confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1.5 tbsp whole milk
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
For the Batter:
- Set oven to a true 325°F. Using an oven thermometer helps to ensure that your oven gets to the proper temperature.
- Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Combine the butter and cream cheese on low speed in your mixing bowl until smooth. Add the granulated sugar and mix on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed to ensure proper mixing.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each one until it’s completely combined before moving on to the next. Continue to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add the vanilla extract and the orange zest and mix thoroughly.
- Add half of the flour mixture and mix until nearly combined.
- Add all of the buttermilk and mix until nearly combined.
- Add the other half of the flour mixture and mix until nearly combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula and then stir gently until you have a completely combined mix.
- Prepare a bundt pan for baking and add the batter. Bake at 325°F for 60-75 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer reads between 210°F and 215°F. Alternately, the cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes. After ten minutes, invert the cake on a cooling rack.
To Make the Simple Syrup
- Combine the granulated sugar, water and salt in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook just until the sugar dissolves.
- Remove from heat. Add the orange juice and vanilla extract and swirl to combine.
- Brush the simple syrup on the cake after removing the cake from the bundt pan.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before moving onto the next step.
To Make the Glaze:
- Add the mascarpone cheese, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla extract, whole milk, and fine sea salt in a medium bowl.
- Use a small whisk to gently combine the ingredients until smooth. Overmixing will cause the mascarpone cheese to become soupy, and this cannot be fixed.
- Use immediately to glaze the cooled cake.
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this is easily one of the best cakes I’ve ever made! I love orange creamsicles and it tasted JUST like it. I can’t wait to make this again for the 4th of july weekend cookout!
Thank you so much Britney!!! I’m glad to know a fellow Orange Creamsicle fan and I’m even more glad that you loved it!