County Fair Orange Cake

While rummaging through some piles of paper last week, I found a county fair cookbook that I had purchased many years ago. One of the dog-eared pages held this delicious recipe for County Fair Orange Cake. Looking further, I realized it was a cake that I had entered into the fair that year. While It didn’t receive the top prize, it’s always held a blue ribbon in my book. It’s incredibly easy to make and my family loves the bright citrus flavor of the orange juice, pudding mix and glaze. Yep, it’s a winner!

County Fair Orange Cake

1 (15.25-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.5-ounce) package lemon instant pudding mix
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup canola oil
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Orange Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon orange zest plus more for garnishing

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust with flour.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Add the orange juice, oil, eggs and orange zest; beat with a mixer at low speed to combine. Beat an additional 4 minutes with mixer on medium speed.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Transfer to a platter and poke holes all over with a skewer. Carefully, pour warm orange glaze over the cake. Garnish with more orange zest for serving.

For the Orange Glaze: Cook the sugar, orange juice, and butter in a saucepan over medium, stirring, until the butter is melted. Cook 2 more minutes and remove from the heat; stir in the orange zest.