What I'm craving more than Christmas foods is Christmas spirit. Where's the Christmas spirit?! Since moving down to Louisville, I'm suddenly much more aware of how unnaturally warm it is outside for this season. It ain't right to be 60 degrees outside on December 5th! So it doesn't feel like Christmastime. Thankfully, we have successfully put up all of our pretty Christmas decorations in our house, and I have to remind myself to play Christmas tunes when I so badly want to play Bon Iver for these dreary warmish, cloudy, rainy days. So, I'm taking it upon myself to do some sort of Christmas-y task every day. Yesterday, I made homemade ornaments to hang from twine off of our chandelier. This morning, I'm making a cranberry spice cake, which I will pair with delicious hot cocoa when it's time to eat up.
For the Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
dash of nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (8 ounces) fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (roughly 1/2 a lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup apple cider (or applesauce)
For the Lemon Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (roughly 1/2 a lemon)
3 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Coat the bottom and sides of 8 1/2-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray (or use vegetable oil spread with paper towel). Line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper and coat the paper with spray too. Whisk flour and next 6 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Pulse cranberries in a food processor until minced but not puréed; set aside.
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil to blend. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on low to blend between additions. Mix in sour cream, orange zest, lemon zest, and vanilla.
Gradually stir in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with cider in 2 additions and mixing on low to blend. Fold in chopped cranberries. Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.
Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a tester inserted into center of cake comes out almost clean, about 50-60 minutes. We recommend checking the cake after 45 minutes since ovens vary. Transfer the pan to a wire rack; let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around inside of pan to release cake; turn out cake onto rack. Peel off parchment paper, then flip cake and let cool for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile make the lemon glaze. Whisk powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt in a small bowl. Spread glaze over warm cake, drip down sides. Let stand until glaze becomes crackly, about 1 hour. Serve at room temperature.
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| (FYI: I didn't take this picture... the cake I made was gone before I took snap a photo of it!) |
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