My Father's Favorite Cranberry Cake

My mother was definitely the cook in our family, but dad did like to try his hand at some dishes, especially baked goods.  He'd make cheese bread, donuts and this, his favorite Bundt cake.

Try it! It's great to take to a dinner party as it transports well.

Dad’s Favorite Cranberry Bundt Cake

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ cup regular sour cream (not the light or no-fat variety)

2 cups flour

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 can (14-oz) whole berry cranberry sauce (not the jellied one)

1 orange

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a Bundt pan. If desired, place a greased piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan (guaranteeing that your cake will come out of the pan!).

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric hand-held mixer until fluffy.  Add eggs and beat.  Add vanilla and beat.  Add sour cream and beat until well incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl.  

Add flour, salt and baking soda to batter and mix on low.

Add entire can of cranberry sauce and stir gently with spoon or rubber spatula.  

Zest the orange and add it to the batter and stir gently. Reserve orange for juice (see below for optional icing recipe).

Pour mixture into prepared Bundt pan, level top, and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes (depending upon the shape of your pan) or until cake tester inserted in middle of cake comes out clean. Remember that the cranberries add lots of moisture, so don't confuse a moist cranberry with moist batter when testing for doneness.

Optional Icing:

After letting cake cool and unmolding it from the Bundt pan, drizzle with a combination of 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar and 1 tsp. of fresh orange juice OR sprinkle with powdered sugar.     

Editor's note: This article, part of Clinton Patch Editor Fay Abrahamsson's "In the Kitchen with Fay" column, originally was published by Clinton Patch.

This article is featured on the "Thanksgiving in Darien" topics page, where you can find Darien Patch's articles, announcements and blog posts on Thanksgiving—including recipes.