Festive Fortnight [2]: Cranberry Orange Almond Bundt Cake

The Festive Fortnight has now officially started! I’ve been looking forward to this moment for over a month – and now it’s here. Hurrah!

I baked this cake over a month ago as well; it’s the first Festive Fortnight bake I made. At first, I wasn’t too sure this cake was going to be a success. It was a bit of an experiment. I’d made this recipe from scratch, and I was baking with fresh cranberries for the first time. They’re weird little buggers, aren’t they? I tasted one since I was curious what they’d taste like before baking or cooking them. Turns out, they’re pretty gross!

Anyway, despite my worries, this cake turned out absolutely delicious. It’s got a lovely almond taste, which combines magnificently with the orange and the cranberries. This cake is perfect for when you’re looking for something that is Christmas-y, but isn’t too heavy. The tang from the citrus and the cranberries made for a nice fresh contrast with the sweetness from the almond and the glaze.

Although the cake was amazing, the pictures of it didn’t exactly turn out as I’d hoped. Dusk was already starting to settle in when I took these pictures – that’s the trouble with winter, I suppose!

You’ll need…

For the cake

240 g butter (softened)
200 g white caster sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon almond flavouring
250 g plain flour + 1 tablespoon to coat cranberries with
2 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 oranges
- zest of both oranges
- 3 tablespoons juice
200 g fresh cranberries

For the glaze

1 tablespoon orange juice
2 tablespoons lukewarm water
170 g icing sugar
flaked almonds (to sprinkle on top)

The rest

bundt cake tin
and an oven, of course! This bundt cake needs to be baked at 170 °C (don’t forget to preheat your oven!)

So, let’s get baking!

1. Mix together butter and sugar The first step is to mix together the sugar and the butter in a large bowl. The butter needs to be softened, so it mixes together with the sugar easily. Mix until it’s pale and fluffy. I used my stand mixer, but you can also use a handheld mixture or a whisk (if you’ve got strong arms).

2. Add eggs and almond flavouring Once your butter and sugar are evenly mixed, add the eggs one by one, while mixing in between. Also add your almond flavouring at this point, and mix everything together again.

3. Add flour, baking powder and salt Sieve the flour and baking powder above your bowl and fold them through the batter using a spatula or spoon (or your mixer). Also add a pinch of salt.

4. Add orange zest and juice Add the zest of the 2 oranges and 2 tablespoons of the juice to the batter and mix it through.

5. Add cranberries Coat the cranberries with the extra tablespoon of flour in a separate bowl (this way, they won’t sink to the bottom of your baking tin). Then, add the cranberries to the batter and gently fold them through.

6. Bake! Generously grease and flour your tin, and then transfer your batter into it. Put the tin in your preheated oven and bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. The cake should’ve gone nicely golden brown.

7. Cool Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool on a cooling rack. After about 15 to 20 minutes you can (gently!) turn out the cake onto a plate and let it cool completely.

8. Prepare the glaze Take a bowl and put the icing sugar in it. Add 1 tablespoon of the orange juice and mix it together. Then, add tablespoons of lukewarm water to the mixture and mix it through until you think you’ve got the right consistency. I usually use 2 or 2.5 tablespoons of water.

9. Glaze the cake Once your cake has completely cooled, drizzle the glaze on top – gravity will take care of the rest as you can see in the pictures. Sprinkle some almond flakes over the cake and voila! You’re done!

Enjoy your delicious cranberry orange almond bundt cake! I’ll be back tomorrow with another festive post!