I love cranberries for their lustrous garnet red skin and mouthpuckering tartness. When added to baked cakes or muffins they resemble jewels. A nut topping adds the perfect counterpoint of crunch and sweetness.
Cranberry Cake with Walnut Topping
Makes 1 9x13 or 1 10" springform cake
For the cake:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into chunks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp orange extract (optional)
2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups cranberries
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9x13 pan or a 10" springform pan.
Beat eggs and sugar together for 5-7 minutes. The eggs should turn pale yellow and increase in volume, forming ribbons when you lift the beaters. Add butter, vanilla and orange extract; beat for 2 minutes. Stir in flour and fold in cranberries. Pour into buttered pan and sprinkle walnut topping over cake.
Bake 45-50 minutes for a 9x13, or around an hour for the springform. If the cake shows signs of browning, tent the cake with foil in the last 15 minutes or so.
Walnut topping
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
Half cup of toasted walnuts (or pecans), chopped finely
Combine and stir together until mixture resembles coarse sand. Sprinkle on top of cake batter.
1 comment:
Aha, cranberries are still in season. I'm going to try this today. Thanks. I'll show you the result later. First, I need to buy the ingredients.
You are really becoming the Cook of the year...
Post a Comment