Orange Blossom Pound Cake | A Spanish Easter Cake
Behind every beautiful creation lies a muse. And Seville in Spring was my inspiration for this lovely, mini Orange Blossom Pound Cake.
Fragranced with the heady scent of orange blossoms and decorated with candied flowers in tones of mauve and gold, this cake captures the scents and colors of wisteria and orange that are pervasive during an April Easter in Seville. This festive orange pound cake is an easy Spring cake to make for Easter or for any other celebration.
Easter in Seville- A Sensational, Springtime Experience
A few years ago, we had visited the beautiful Andalusian province in the south of Spain in April, with the plan to celebrate Semana Santa in Malaga and Easter in Seville. Spring time in Seville is just a marvelous, sensory experience. Mother Nature throws up her best decorations for the occasion. She festoons the city for Easter with chandeliers of fragrant wisteria that hang like purple buntings off of walls, balconies and trellises.
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| I just couldn't resist stopping to smell and marvel at the wisteria. |
And the omnipresent orange trees that line the Sevillian streets are laden with oranges and the fragrant scent of orange blossoms (similar to jasmine) fill the air. I imagine this is what it must feel like to walk in the Garden of Eden.
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| Birds of Paradise at the bottom of a fruiting orange tree in Seville. |
Semana Santa in Andalucia
Semana Santa or Holy week (the week leading up to Easter), is a fascinating time to be in Seville or Malaga where festivities are undertaken with much fervor and passion as emotions build toward Easter.
During the week long festival, massive processions of pasos (floats of lifelike wooden sculptures) depicting the scenes of the sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary or statues of the grieving Virgin Mary pass through the streets.
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| A close up of the life size statue of the grieving Virgin Mary surrounded by tall candles and silver candlesticks. |
These beautifully adorned floats weigh close to 5,000 pounds and are borne on the shoulders of a brotherhood of strong, young men called costaleros who consider it an honor to shoulder this load.
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| A team of costaleros, walking in unison and shouldering two tons of weight, as they carry the wooden floats through miles of Malaga streets. |
Each day, through Holy week, there are different sets of parades of beautifully decorated floats carrying the adorned life-like wooden statues, depicting tableaus of Bible scenes of the Passion of Christ.
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| A wooden float carried by costaleros passes through a sea of passionate crowds on Good Friday. |
Masked Nazarenos (penitents atoning for their sings) are dressed with pointy hats and accompany the floats making their way slowly through a sea of devout crowds. Each float's journey through the city and then back to it's home church can take from 5-12 hours. This centuries old tradition, dating back to the medieval times, is emotional, beautiful and mystical in every way.
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| Nazarenos or penitents, masked and dressed with pointy hats lead the procession, as the float bearing the statue of the Virgin Mary sways on the shoulders of the costaleros. |
This is a remarkable Holy Week and Easter celebration that I will never forget. And my small gesture to relive those memories is by baking Orange Blossom Pound cakes that reflect the colors and scents of an April Easter celebrated in Seville.
Orange Blossom Pound Cakes
These easy Easter cakes, fragranced using orange blossom water, can be baked in one regular size loaf tin, or divided between two mini cake pans to make two mini pound cake loaves.
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| Mini pound cake loaves |
Once the individual pound cakes are cool, drizzle with a simple Orange Blossom Water glaze/ icing and top with candied edible flowers.
What is Orange Blossom Water?
Orange Blossom Water, also known as Orange Flower Water is essential oil of neroli. It is made by distilling the blossoms of the bitter orange tree and brings the sweet smell of orange groves to a variety of cakes and cocktails.
Orange Blossom Pound Cake Recipe
Adapted from: Del's Cooking Twist
Ingredients
Ingredients for Pound Cake:
☐ 3 large eggs
☐ 3/4 cup sugar
☐ 1 1/3 cup flour (spooned and leveled)
☐ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
☐ 2/3 cup salted butter
☐ 1 large orange (juice and zest) or 1/3 cup orange juice
☐ 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
Ingredients for Glaze/Icing:
☐ 1/2 cup powdered sugar
☐ 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
☐ 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water
☐ 1 tablespoon milk
Required Baking Pans:
Two 3'x4x loaf tins (mini pound cake pans)
Step-by-Step Instructions
To make Mini Pound Cakes:
- Pre- heat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar very well until pale and fluffy.
- Sift flour and baking powder together and then add the mixture slowly to the batter.
- Melt butter in a pan. Wait for butter to cool down and then pour it into the batter. Do not overbeat.
- Add orange juice, orange zest and orange blossom water.
- Pour batter into two lined and floured mini baking pans. Bake at 350°F for about 40 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. (If using 1 large loaf tin, bake for 50 minutes).
To make glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, orange zest, orange blossom water and milk until smooth. If you prefer a thinner glaze, thin it out with a teeny bit of milk. Drizzle over the cakes.
Affix Easter Cake Decorations
While the glazes is still soft, fix the sugared edible flowers into the glaze. In a few minutes the glaze will firm up and the flowers will remain fixed to the cakes.
See how to make Candied Edible Flowers- Easter cake decorations.
Take a peek at my other citrus cake recipes that you may enjoy:
- Cointreau Daffodil Bundt Cake- A Spectacular Easter Cake
- Orange Olive Oil Italian Muffins for breakfast
- Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes topped with fresh berries
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