eat more cake

Cranberry orange cake. I didn't think it would happen, but we had quite a bit of cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving.

That's a fine problem to have, to be sure!

I dealt with it the best and most delicious way I know--I baked it into a cake. The simple buttermilk batter really benefited from the sweet and tart cranberry sauce mixed into the top bit, and the orange zest in that sauce added another layer of complementary flavor.

The original recipe for this cake calls for a 9-inch square pan, but I have an 8-inch, so that's what I used. The cake was certainly thicker, and I will say that it got a little bit more done on the edges than I would've liked, so if you have a 9-inch or equivalent, be sure to use that!

As you can tell, I am not giving up cake as part of any New Year's resolutions!

All-Occasion Cranberry Orange Cake
Based on this recipe
(printable recipe)

Serves 8-12
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2-1 cup homemade cranberry orange sauce*
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• Coarse sugar, for the top

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray.
Cream butter (with orange zest, if using) and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. (It would be at this point that you would add the fresh cranberries.)
Spread the batter into pan, then dollop on the cranberry sauce. Swirl the sauce into the cake batter with a knife.
Sprinkle the cake with coarse sugar.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

*You can certainly use store-bought sauce or even fresh or frozen cranberries (1/2-1 cup), but also be sure to add some orange zest too!