Irresistible Zucchini Cardamom Ricotta Bundt Cake with Tangy Lemon Glaze
Get ready to elevate your baking game with a truly exceptional dessert: our Zucchini Cardamom Ricotta Bundt Cake. This isn’t just another zucchini cake; it’s a masterpiece of flavors and textures, featuring freshly grated zucchini, rich whole-fat ricotta cheese, and a fragrant, tart lemon-cardamom glaze that perfectly complements every bite. It’s a delightful combination that promises to surprise and satisfy, making it an instant classic in your recipe collection.
You might be thinking, “Another zucchini cake? Hasn’t the internet reached its capacity with zucchini recipes?” And honestly, I understand that sentiment! The online world is indeed teeming with zucchini breads, muffins, and cakes. Yet, here I am, enthusiastically adding another creation to the mix, and for good reason. This particular bundt cake stands out in a crowded field, offering a unique twist that makes it utterly worth your attention.
What makes this Zucchini Cardamom Ricotta Bundt Cake truly special? Several key elements set it apart:
- **It’s a Bundt Cake:** The elegant fluted shape of a bundt cake always adds a touch of sophistication, making it perfect for special occasions or a beautiful centerpiece for your everyday table.
- **Cardamom Takes Center Stage:** Cardamom, my all-time favorite baking spice, infuses the cake with a warm, subtly exotic, and incredibly aromatic flavor. It’s a game-changer that elevates the humble zucchini.
- **Ricotta for Unmatched Texture:** This isn’t just a zucchini cardamom bundt cake; it’s a *zucchini cardamom ricotta* bundt cake. The whole-fat ricotta cheese contributes to an incredibly moist, tender, and light crumb, setting it apart from denser cake recipes.
All these wonderful elements converge to create something truly magical. Prepare yourself for a baking experience that’s as rewarding as the delicious outcome!
Beyond the Recipe: Fun Kitchen Hacks and Baking Insights
If you’ve been following my kitchen escapades on social media (my username is @blogoverthyme on platforms like Snapchat!), you might have caught a sneak peek of this very cake. And if you did, you likely witnessed my sheer excitement over a truly brilliant kitchen hack: **you can store a glazed bundt cake perfectly in a salad spinner!** It sounds a bit unconventional, but trust me on this one. Simply remove the inner basket, and the bowl of your salad spinner transforms into an ideal, perfectly proportioned holder for your bundt cake, keeping it fresh and protected. I even shared a video demonstrating this ingenious trick on my Facebook page – truly one of my prouder moments in the kitchen!
But let’s refocus on the star of the show: this incredible Zucchini Cardamom Bundt Cake. The journey to this recipe began many months ago, inspired by a beloved lemon yogurt pound cake that I previously shared. That original recipe, itself lightly adapted from a classic lemon yogurt pound cake, has remained one of my personal favorite bundt cake recipes. It’s a testament to its simplicity and consistent deliciousness. My dad even baked it for my mom’s birthday, a testament to its ease of preparation and universally appealing taste. It truly comes out great every single time and is undeniably addictive.
The Evolution of a Recipe: From Yogurt to Ricotta, Adding Zucchini and Cardamom
For today’s Zucchini Cardamom Bundt Cake, I decided to make a few significant and transformative changes to the original lemon yogurt pound cake recipe. The first major swap was replacing the whole-fat Greek yogurt with whole-fat ricotta cheese. This seemingly small change had a profound impact, helping to lighten the texture of the cake, making it even more tender and moist. Ricotta contributes a unique creaminess and subtle tang that perfectly complements the other flavors.
Next, I introduced the star summer vegetable: freshly grated zucchini. Zucchini is a marvel in baking, adding incredible moisture without making the cake taste overtly “vegetable-like.” Its mild flavor allows the other ingredients to shine while ensuring a wonderfully soft crumb. And, of course, to truly make this cake unforgettable, I incorporated ground cardamom not just into the cake batter but also into the lemon glaze, creating a cohesive and beautifully spiced flavor profile that runs through every element of the dessert.
Pro Tip: Mastering Zucchini in Baking
When baking with grated zucchini, there’s one crucial step you absolutely cannot skip to ensure your cake turns out perfectly moist, not soggy: you must squeeze out *all* of the excess moisture from the grated zucchini. This step is vital for achieving the ideal cake texture. My favorite and most effective method is to place the freshly grated zucchini in a clean (and preferably old, as it might get stained) dish towel. Gather the corners of the towel, twist it into a tight ball, and then vigorously squeeze the zucchini over the sink until no more liquid comes out. You’ll be surprised how much water zucchini holds! Repeating this process several times ensures maximum moisture removal, guaranteeing a beautifully tender and never watery cake.
I genuinely adored every single aspect of this cake, but for me, the cardamom truly stole the show. If you’re already a fan of cardamom, you are going to fall head over heels for this recipe! If you’ve never had the pleasure of tasting cardamom, now is the perfect time to experience its magic. While it can be a bit more expensive than other spices, a container of good quality ground cardamom will last a long time, and its unique, warm, citrusy, and slightly piney notes are an absolute game-changer in baking. Once you try it, you’ll find yourself reaching for it again and again. And don’t forget that ingenious salad spinner storage tip – it really does work like a charm!
Zucchini Cardamom Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze
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Ingredients
Zucchini Cardamom Bundt Cake:
- 2½ cups (500 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest about 3 to 4 lemons
- 1 cup (8 oz; 225 g) unsalted butter softened
- ¼ cup (60 mL) fresh lemon juice about 2 to 3 lemons
- 6 large eggs
- 2½ cups (315 g) unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 1½ teaspoons ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup (240 g) whole fat ricotta cheese
- 1 cup (200 g) packed coarsely grated (excess moisture squeezed out with a linen and discarded) zucchini roughly 1 medium/large zucchini, see notes
Lemon Glaze:
- ¾ cup (95 g) powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) fresh lemon juice
- pinch ground cardamom
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 325°F (162°C). Generously butter and lightly flour a 12-cup bundt pan. For best results and to ensure the cake doesn’t stick, place the prepared pan in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the batter. Set aside.
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In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the granulated sugar and grated lemon zest. Using your fingertips, vigorously rub the sugar and lemon zest together in the bowl until the sugar is incredibly fragrant and resembles moist sand. This step infuses the sugar with intense lemon flavor. Add the softened unsalted butter, and beat the mixture together at medium speed for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the mixture is light, pale, and fluffy. Add the fresh lemon juice and beat until just blended. Incorporate the large eggs, adding them one at a time, beating just until the yellow yolk disappears after each addition. Be careful not to overmix.
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In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the unbleached all-purpose flour, ground cardamom, kosher salt, baking soda, and baking powder until well combined. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry flour mixture to the wet ingredients in three additions, alternating with two additions of the whole-fat ricotta cheese. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Beat just until blended after each addition, taking care not to overmix the batter. Finally, gently fold in the packed, coarsely grated zucchini (which you’ve thoroughly squeezed of excess moisture).
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Pour the prepared batter evenly into the chilled bundt cake pan. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until a long wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. If the top of the cake starts browning too quickly, you can loosely tent it with aluminum foil. Once baked, cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for at least one hour. After this initial cooling, carefully invert the cake onto a plate or another wire rack and allow it to cool completely for another hour or so before glazing.
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To Glaze and Decorate: In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice, and a pinch of ground cardamom until the glaze is smooth and free of lumps. The consistency should be pourable but thick enough to cling to the cake. Place the completely cooled cake on a wire rack with a plate or sheet pan underneath to catch any excess glaze. Drizzle the lemon-cardamom glaze generously over the top and sides of the bundt cake using a spoon or a whisk. Allow the glaze to set slightly for about 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving. This allows the glaze to firm up, creating a beautiful finish.
How to Prepare the Grated Zucchini:
- Using a box grater, coarsely grate the zucchini. Place the grated zucchini in a clean kitchen towel (ideally one you don’t mind getting potentially stained). Gather the ends of the towel to form a tight ball around the zucchini. Over a sink, firmly squeeze out and discard as much moisture as possible from the zucchini. Squeeze several times to ensure all excess liquid is removed. This step is critical to prevent a soggy cake. Once squeezed, fluff the grated zucchini and place it in a bowl, setting it aside until needed.
Adapted heavily from this Lemon Yogurt Bundt Cake.