Tangerine Bundt Cake with Citrus Glaze

I saw this cake on the most recent cover of Everyday Food Magazine and said to myself, “I just have to make that.”  I was looking for a breakfast cake for Thanksgiving morning and this one fit the bill perfectly because it looked so refreshing and it gave me an excuse to use my bundt pan again. This bundt cake was a bit labor intensive as you have to zest and squeeze about 8 tangerines.  It was well worth it in the end, as we all enjoyed an extra large slice of this on Thanksgiving morning.

Note:  It’s best to make this cake a day ahead so that the glaze can set overnight.  Just cover and store the glazed cake at room temperature.

Tangerine bundt cake with citrus glaze

Recipe from Everyday Food Magazine

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine kosher salt
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons finely grated tangerine zest (from 6 tangerines)
• 1/2 cup tangerine juice (from about 6 tangerines)
• 2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur, such as Grand Marnier
• 3/4 cup plain Greek or low-fat plain yogurt –  I used Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Citrus glaze:

• 1  1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 3 tablespoons tangerine juice (from 2 tangerines)

OK, so I did not have any orange liquor lying around the house, nor did I want a whole bottle of it (yuck), so I went to my local BevMo and asked if they had any travel size bottles of Grand Marnier.  I was in luck as they had tons of these travel sized bottles hidden in back.  Isn’t it just the cutest thing, so tiny against the tangerines?

As you all know, I like to prep my ingredients ahead of time, so lets do that.  Zest your 6 tangerines, then cut them in half and squeeze the juice out over a glass measuring cup until you get 1/2 cup full of juice.

I just love all this vibrant orange color!

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour a bundt cake pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, using a standing or hand-held electric mixer, beat your room temperature butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Note: Your cake mixture will get creamy fast just by adding the eggs.

Beat in tangerine zest, tangerine juice and liqueur.

Your mixture will look a bit curdled at this point.  Appetizing, right?

With mixer on low, add the flour mixture and yogurt in three additions. You will add in a bit of the flour then the yogurt and then the flour again and so on.

Beat to combine and then beat in the vanilla. Your mixture will thicken up and look like this.

Pour the batter into your bundt pan, smooth the top, and firmly tap the pan on a flat surface to remove any air bubbles and to help smooth the batter as well.

Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes.  My cake was done in 50 minutes.

Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for about 30 minutes.  Invert cake onto a cake plate or platter and let cool completely.

Once your cake is completely cooled, you can move onto making the glaze.

Whisk together confectioner’s sugar and tangerine juice until smooth.

Note: My sauce was a bit thick so I added a bit more juice till it got thinner.  The glaze will look yellow at this point, but as it sets on the cake it will turn white.

As you can see from my professional glaze job, this was my first time ever glazing a bundt cake so I was not sure what to do.  I thought about researching how to glaze a bundt cake on the Internet, but it was late and the night before Thanksgiving so I decided to wing it.   I just took the glaze and poured it around the top of the cake and let it drizzle down the sides.  I ended up with a lot of drizzle on the bottom that I scooped up with a spoon and added to the top.   If you want to get fancy and make your cake look beautiful, I would recommend this method:

Take your glaze and pour into a ziploc bag.  Twist bag (so it looks like a like a pastry bag) so that the glaze can settle into one corner of the bag.  Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and drizzle the glaze over the cake.  Make sure you get a lot of glaze on the top of the cake.  The glaze does soak in so you want to use all your glaze.

If you want to delve into your cake that day, then let cake sit for one hour to let the glaze set.  If your eating it the next day, then cover the glazed cake and store at room temperature.

This is the perfect cake to serve up at breakfast or brunch or to have with your afternoon tea.  It was a hit with my whole family and friends!

Happy Sunday!