This has truly been the most frustrating month in terms of work. Especially when this overload starts taking a serious toll on blogging. That's plain wrong. Think we can fix it by getting back to yammering every day or 2? :)
Today's story revolves around that damn sweet tooth :) But I'm quite glad I have Erma on my side to justify a potentially burgeoning waistline! Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.
~Erma Bombeck
****
A Whole Foods expedition a few weeks ago resulted in some awesome booty which included some delicious satsumas and unsweetened dried cranberries. The idea then was to add these to the batch of granola I was going to make that weekend, but somehow, dried fruits in cereal didn't seem so appealing to me. That coupled with the need for a sugar fix brought out the cookbooks :)
King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking - this book could keep me occupied for a few years! It has a fabulous assortment of high fiber recipes - replete with diverse flavours and ingredients. Granted, they do not scrimp on the butter/fat in their recipes, but that is often something that I've found successful ways to work around. This recipe was adapted from a basic orange cake version to include cranberries. The buttermilk makes for a decent alternative when you want to cut back on the butter - mind you, it doesn't always work to maintain the tender moist texture of cakes or breads, but in this one, it did a stellar job!
Orange-Cranberry Cake
Tangy, sweet, tender, moist ... mmm!
Tangy, sweet, tender, moist ... mmm!
Servings: a regular 9 cup bundt cake (16 servings)
Batter
2.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup butter (4 oz)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1.5 cups unrefined sugar
4 large eggs (I went with egg whites instead)
1 cup nonfat milk
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 T freshly grated satsuma zest
Place an oven rack a third of the way up from the bottom and heat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9-cup bundt pan.
Mix together the flours, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
Cream together the butter and sugar in a larger bowl till smooth and fluffy - takes 4-5 minutes with a hand mixer or a KitchenAid, maybe 8-10 minutes if you're using a whisk.
Add the eggs (or egg white portions) one at a time, beating each time till blended.
Now add the flour in - one third at a time, alternating with the milk. Beat this in slowly (just so you aren't covered in a cloud of flour - that's what happened to me the first few times I baked a cake :))
Finally stir in the orange zest and cranberries.
Pour the batter into the bundt pan and level the batter - either with a spoon or you can be more adventurous and slam the bottom of the bundt pan on your counter or on a table till the batter evens out :)
Bake for about 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
Cover with a cooling rack and invert the cake. Remove the pan and cook the cake upside down on the rack.
Glaze
1/2 cup juice from satsumas
2 t freshly grated satsuma zest
1/2 cup sugar
Mix the zest, juice and sugar in a heatproof bowl.
Heat the contents in a microwave for 45-60 seconds so the sugar is dissolved.
Brush the glaze all over the hot cake and let it sink in.
Cool the cake completely before transferring to a serving plate.
Opinion?
*drool*! This cake has been made again already :) Moist, tender, tart cranberries couple perfectly with the sweet-tangy orange flavour. Happy! Very Happy!
*****
Future variations?
Think I want to try this with some nuts next time around. Maybe even try a lemon version? And maybe throw in some honey or molasses instead of sugar? *so* many options! :)
*****
Other cakes check out here
16 comments:
what a gorgeous cake. i love orange anything. try alton brown's orange cake. it's low fat. i've used it in our cranberry orange cake. it's on our site.
the photos are great - i especially love the one of the oranges!
That looks delicious, Kaykat! I love citrus in cakes, and all the ones you have been making lately have been bookmarked :)
Hope your "girls on the run" project is going great!
this looks yummy,..stilltoexperiment,..with baking,.
I would be also happy if i had a slice of this cake delicious
Yes! I am going to make this one but with dried blueberries instead. satsuma a variety of oranbe, anything would work right?
looks perfect K! one of my favorites too, wonder why I haven't posted it yet:) I add some chopped pecans, they go great with cranberries:)
Yum! That is a gorgeous cake!!
Never tried making cake with orange, Don't know why!
This one's lovely. Orange cake is on my to-do-list.:)
I have that book too, love the recipe. Bread looks fabulous!:)
That looks delicious!!
~drool~
~drool~
~drool~
Beautiful cake!! Love orange and cranberry! :)
That cake looks like something straight out of a cook book!!!! Wow!
awesome photo of satsumas!
I was literally eating my screen DROOLS!!! I tried your cake and it was yumm! I wanted to share this, whenever I make it now, I have this drink called purple with it. You must have heard about it since it's doing a lot of rounds in the celebrity circuit and is all over the news. Its tastes amazing, try it and let me know if you liked it or not. It is a health drink which is made up of 7 fruits juice and is high on antioxidants and you know about antioxidants right? it prevents premature ageing, what else do growing women want huh, LOL!! If you want more information to check whether what I am saying is right you can get it at www.drinkpurple.com . You can get it at GNC and drug stores.
Post a Comment