Blood Orange Poppy Seed Yogurt Pound Cake

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a Bundt cake pan with cooking spray or neutral oil. Next, whisk together the sifted flour, Kosher salt, baking soda, and poppy seeds in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and blood orange zest. Using clean hands, ‘rub’ the sugar and zest together to release the oils from the zest, about 1 minute.  dd the butter to the orange-sugar mixture. Cream the sugar and butter together until it’s combined, about 4 minutes. (The mixture may be a little sandy). Add the vanilla extract. Then, mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.

Add half of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, followed by half of the Greek yogurt. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture and Greek yogurt, stirring just until the batter is mixed. A few lumps are ok. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt cake pan and use a rubber spatula to smooth out the top.

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, and then release the cake from the pan. Place the cake on a wire rack and cool completely.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, blood orange juice, and milk until a thick glaze forms. If necessary, thin the glaze with milk, 1 Tablespoon at a time until your glaze is thick but pourable. It should be the consistency of honey.

Pour the blood orange glaze over the cooled pound cake. Decorate as desired. Let the glaze set at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before serving.

If you can’t find blood oranges, any variety of oranges will work.
If the bottom of the cake starts to brown too quickly in the oven, tent it with tin foil.
Avoid overbaking the cake or it will end up dry. The cake is done when an inserted toothpick has just a few moist crumbs on it.