Cranberry Pound Cake

I’ve been on a real cranberry kick this holiday season. (Did you see my recipe for sugared cranberries?) When I saw this recipe for Cranberry Cake in the November issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, I thought it would make a nice treat for Christmas morning. Now that I’ve had it, I can definitely recommend it for a New Year’s brunch!

As usual, I made a number of changes (some intentional, some not so), but I will post the original recipe.

For the cake:

• 1 lemon (for 2 tsp juice, 1/4 tsp grated peel)
• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar (divided)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 package(s) (8-ounce) cream cheese, softened
• 6 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:

• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon(s) water
• Sliced almonds, for garnish

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 °F; grease and flour 12-cup bundt pan.
  I do not have a 12-cup bundt pan. I used my holiday bundt pan and another pan with a decorative mold. Because my holiday bundt pan has a non-stick coating, I only greased it with a butter –I did not flour it.
•  Grate 1/4 teaspoon peel from lemon and squeeze 2 teaspoons juice.
  The juice is for the glaze, but I assumed that it was for the cranberries, so I used it in the next step!
• Combine 1 cup cranberries, 1/4 cup sugar, grated lemon peel, (lemon juice,) sugar and cinnamon in a 2-quart saucepan. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes–until some cranberries pop. Cool completely and then add the other cup of cranberries.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
• Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
• Gradually add 2 cups sugar.
• Add eggs one at a time.
• Add 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon almond extract.
  (I did not have any almond extract ….)
• Gradually add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
• Spoon 3/4 of the batter into the prepared pan, spread the (cooled) cranberry mixture evenly over the batter, and top with remaining batter.
  (I divided this all between two pans, so my bigger cake ended up will less cranberries per cake. I think I will like the smaller one better because I love cranberries!)
• Bake 55 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes  until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
  (My smaller cakes needed less time–about 45 minutes.)
• Remove pan to wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto another rack to cool completely.
  (This is always a hold-your-breath-moment) but my cake came out perfectly!)

To make the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, water, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract until smooth. Drizzle over cake. Garnish with almonds.(I skipped the glaze and the almonds and just dusted the cake with powdered sugar).

It was delicious with a slice of leftover ham. 🙂

Did you try any new holiday recipes?