Cranberry Almond Cake
This simple cake is scented with lemon zest and almond extract, studded with fresh cranberries, and dressed in a beautiful cranberry glaze.
Servings: 1 loaf
Equipment
- 9x5 inch loaf pan
Ingredients
Cranberry Almond Cake
- 4 ounces (½ cup) unsalted butter soft
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups fresh cranberries* chopped
Cranberry Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons cranberry juice**
Instructions
For the cranberry cake:
- Preheat oven to 350° F and grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom and long sides of the pan with parchment paper for easier removal after baking.
- Cream the 4 oz butter until smooth and silky.
- In a small bowl, combine lemon zest and 1 cup sugar. Stir for a few minutes, until lemon releases its natural oils. The sugar will become sticky and fragrant.
- Add lemon sugar to butter and beat until thoroughly mixed.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated.
- Sift dry ingredients (1 ¾ cup flour, ½ tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt) together in a medium bowl. Combine ¾ cup milk, 1 tbsp lemon juice, ½ tsp almond and ½ tsp vanilla extract in a separate container.
- Add about ⅓ of flour mixture to butter mixture; blend. Add about ½ of milk mixture and mix until nearly incorporated. Continue alternating dry ingredients and milk until everything is just blended.
- Fold in 1 ½ cups chopped cranberries.
- Pour cake batter into the prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes.
- Allow to cool for about 20 minutes. While still just slightly warm, invert cake onto a cooling rack. Allow to finish cooling completely.
For the cranberry glaze:
- Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 tbsp cranberry juice together thoroughly. Adjust thickness if necessary by adding a bit more powdered sugar or juice. Glaze should be thick but pourable.
- Drizzle glaze over top of cake. Slice and serve!
Notes
*You can also use frozen cranberries. Don't let them thaw; simply fold them, straight out of the freezer, gently into the batter just before baking. The cake may take a few extra minutes to bake.
**Use 100% pure cranberry juice, not the stuff sweetened with apple and/or grape juice!
You can also make your own cranberry juice by simmering a handful of cranberries over medium heat with a small amount of water until the berries burst. Crush them with a fork and strain through a fine meshed sieve. Discard the skins and use the strained juice to make the glaze.