Serves 12 / With a light crumb and beautiful texture, this delicious cake contains far fewer calories than a typical pound cake. Ingredient tips: Cake flour is a low-gluten baking flour, ideal for light-textured desserts; look for it in the baking aisle. Xylitol, a granulated sweetener made from birch hardwood trees or corn, has 40 percent fewer calories than sugar and an extremely low glycemic index of 7. Prep tip: Xylitol can replace sugar 1:1 in most recipes but it can cause digestive upset, so begin by replacing half the sugar with xylitol. (We tested this recipe with xylitol only, and then with half sugar, half xylitol; both yielded good results.) Warning: Xylitol is very dangerous for dogs, so do not allow your pet to eat xylitol or any foods containing xylitol, and contact your veterinarian right away if your dog eats any.
1 cup cake flour or all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
1/3 cup xylitol (or half xylitol, half sugar)
2 eggs
1 orange, juiced and zested (to yield 4 tablespoons juice, divided)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
1. Preheat oven to 350˚. Thoroughly oil an 8×4-inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In a second medium bowl, cream butter and xylitol (or xylitol-sugar blend) with mixer until soft, 3 minutes. Add eggs and beat another 2 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons orange juice, zest, and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture. Transfer batter to pan. Smooth with a spatula and bake for 25–30 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes.
3. Combine remaining orange juice and the orange liqueur in a small bowl. Poke holes in top of cake with a fork and pour liqueur mixture over cake. Allow to cool, then remove from pan. Serve immediately, or wrap tightly until ready to serve.
PER SERVING: 145 cal, 52% fat cal, 9g fat, 5g sat fat, 56mg chol, 2g protein, 16g carb, 0g fiber, 128mg sodium
