Orange Cardamom Cake

I have a couple recipe notebooks mostly made up of recipes cut from magazines or printed off the Internet.  This year I decided not to renew my magazine subscriptions to Cooking Light and Vegetarian Times and actually start making some of those recipes.  They are both great magazines, but they were just piling up.  I went through those stacks and cut out every recipe I was interested in or possibly thought I would make.  I divided them into two different notebooks, one for breads, desserts, and other baked goods, and the other for everything else.  And I'm actually making some headway with them!  I counted today and I've made 10 recipes from the baking/dessert group and about 7 0r 8 from the everything group (this tally is just from the magazines, it doesn't include all the new recipes I've tried from food blogs!).    I have a lot more to go, but I have a goal of trying one or two new recipes a week until I get them all made.  I've added many new recipes from food blogs and other sources and I intend to weed out any I don't like as I go, although so far, every new thing I've tried has been a keeper.  Today's recipe is one of the ones I got from Cooking Light, and it comes from the December 2007 issue.  I finally got a nice Bundt pan the other day, and this is the recipe I decided on to try it out.

Orange Cardamom Cake

Makes 16 servings

3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 3/4 teaspoons ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

2/3 cup canola oil

1 tablespoon grated orange rind

2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons fresh orange juice

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Coat a 10-inch tube pan or Bundt pan with cooking spray; dust with 1 tablespoon flour.
• Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, leveling with a knife.  Combine 3 cups flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center of the mixture and add orange juice, canola oil, orange rind, lemon rind, vanilla, and eggs to the flour mixture.  Beat with a mixer on low speed until well combined, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.
• Spoon batter into prepared cake pan, spreading evenly.  Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes on a wire rack, then remove cake from pan.
• To prepare glaze, combine 1 cup powdered sugar, 4 1/2 teaspoons orange juice, and lemon juice in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk.  Drizzle glaze over warm cake; cool cake completely on wire rack.  Calories 294, Fat 10.4g,Protein 3.8g, Carb 46.6g, Fiber 0.8g

This cake turned out well and it was delicious.  It is lightly spiced with a nice orange flavor.  I thought the spices and the orange flavor were more prominent a day after I made it, so this may be one of those things that is a little better left over.  This would be a great cake for a holiday party or family get together.