Zucchini or Pickles?!

Last weekend while reading at the shore I saw this delicious looking bundt cake in my Martha magazine. This weekend I was actually home to make it! But first, I have to make a disclaimer: I will never love any zucchini bread, cookie or cake as much as I love my Grandpa Norm's recipe (although I am madly in love with Martha's Zucchini Cookies). Due to this fact I thought the actual cake part was lacking in flavor. My recipe has more cinnamon and vanilla in it. But Mr. Lawyer is devouring it so I guess it's not a real problem, just a personal preference. The orange glaze is absolutely amazing. I will definitely be saving it for some other dessert creation, like muffins. I thought zucchini and orange was an odd combination but it grew on me. The candied zucchini is okay, really just for garnish but it doesn't add any necessary flavor so it could be skipped. I don't have a mandoline to make nice pretty ribbons like Martha so I used my food processor and mine ended up looking like pickles! Oh well.

Zucchini Bundt Cake with Orange Glaze and Candied Zucchini

(from Martha Stewart Living)

Cake Ingredients:
1.5 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2.5 cups flour
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon anise seeds (omitted, didn't have them)
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom, optional (omitted, didn't have it)
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium zucchini
3 large eggs
1.5 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
Cake Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 and grease pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, spices, and salt.
2. Grate zucchini and size dry. You will need around 2.5 cups.
3. Stir together eggs and sugar, then stir in melted butter, zucchini, orange zest and juice. Stir in flour mixture. Transfer batter to pan.
4. Bake for one hour. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer cake to plate. Cool before brushing on glaze and adding candied zucchini.
Orange Glaze Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 pinches ground cardamom, optional (omitted)
1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
Milk for thinning if needed
Orange Glaze Directions:
1. Whisk together sugar and cardamom
2. Whisk in zest and juice until it has the consistency of thick honey. If too thick, add milk 1 teaspoon at a time.
Candied Zucchini Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 zucchini
Candied Zucchini Directions:
1. Slice zucchini into ribbons using a mandoline. I don't have one and used the slicing disk on my food processor.
2. Bring water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat and add zucchini. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until translucent. If you place a circle of parchment paper over the top, it helps keep the slices under the liquid.
3. Let zucchini cool in syrup and then arrange zucchini in a single layer on a baking sheet. Let dry for 1 hour.