Ricotta Orange, Cardamom Pound Cake

Ohhh pound cakes…  It’s so easy to do and so comforting.  Before this one, I had never made pound cake myself but I always bought slices at the cute little coffee shop down the street.  Some people call it pound cake, other bread.  As far as I’m concern, I could easily put it in the same family as the banana and walnut bread or even the Anastasia bread I made last year.

Although the only difference is that this batter create a much softer cake/bread compare to the two other ones.  It has the feeling of a little pillow in your mouth, thanks to the ricotta and the added egg white.

I hope you’ll also enjoy this orange and cardamom mix.  It’s a new obsession of mine (I seem to develop obsessions pretty easily).  I recently made a tapioca pudding flavored with orange blossom flower and cardamom and it was out of this world!  Definitely a match of flavor to remember for future recipes.

On this, enjoy this soft and silky ricotta, orange & cardamom pound cake with a nice cup of tea as a fun afternoon snack or as a desert topped with ice cream!

Have a great Tuesday everyone 🙂

PS:  You can even toast it and add butter on it.. it’s divine! 😉

– INGREDIENTS –

1/2 cup of light ricotta

1 egg white

3 eggs

1 tablespoon of margarine

3/4 cup of cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3/4 cup of orange juice (I used 100% pure bottled orange juice)

1/2 teaspoon of cardamom

2 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

2 cups of sifted flour

zest of 1 navel orange

1- Pre-heat your oven at 350.  Grease and flour a  10″ x 4″ (approx) non stick bread pan.

2- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the ricotta with the sugar, vanilla extract, orange zest and cardamom till you end up with a smooth paste (sort of).  Keep whisking while adding the 3 eggs and 1 egg white.

3- In another mixing bowl, sift the flour and add your baking powder. Reserve

4- Alternatively, start adding your flour mixture to the sugar mix and your orange juice slowly while stirring till your cake batter become smooth and silky.

5- Pour the batter in your previously greased and floured mold, bake for 1 hour in the center of the oven.  Wait for it to cool down before removing the cake from the mold and voilà!