Zucchini Orange Bundt Cake

This past week I had a big step in my PhD career, my thesis proposal.  For a portion of the proposal I had a closed door session with my committee members ( PhDs and MDs that are selected to judge me on my progress).  It is customary to bring a snack for them.  I chose to go with this zucchini orange bundt cake from martha stewart.  It turned out wonderfully.. and I passed with flying colors =) .. thank you zucchini cake


Recipe.

Ingredients

Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom 

Coarse salt

2 medium zucchini (about 8 ounces each)

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest, plus 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

Glaze

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

2 pinches of ground cardamom (optional)

1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest, plus 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Brush a 6-cup Bundt pan (surlatable.com) with butter, and dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder, spices, and 1 teaspoon salt.

2. Grate zucchini on the large holes of a box grater, then squeeze dry in a clean kitchen towel or press in a ricer. (You will need 2 1/2 cups.)

3.Stir together eggs and sugar, then stir in melted butter, zucchini, and orange zest and juice. Stir in flour mixture. Transfer batter to pan.

4. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour (cake will rise quite a bit over the top of the pan but should not run over). Transfer pan to a wire rack, and let cake cool for 10 minutes. Run a paring knife around edges of cake to loosen, and turn out onto wire rack. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

5.  for the glaze whisk together sugar and cardamom. Whisk in orange zest and juice, and whisk until mixture has the consistency of thick honey. If mixture is too thick, whisk in milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.

6. pour orange glaze evenly over cake, and let set before serving