Bundt Cake with Orange, Cranberries and Rosemary

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A few weeks ago, I stumbled across this yummy sounding recipe for a cake with oranges, cranberries and rosemary. It sounded absolutely up my alley, so I thought I would try it.
Whenever I try a new recipe by someone else, unless something listed sounds off to me, I tend to execute it once as is, without modifications. So I did.

The cake turned out well, though I found that, even though well baked (the stick inserted came our clean and dry), as the cake sat there over a couple of days, it was just too wet and heavy. As I had suspected, there was too much juice and overall wet ingredients in the recipe. Also, the orange flavor overwhelmed all the others.

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So I thought I would simply use my own Gugelhupf base recipe and add a more moderate amount of orange, the cranberries, of course, and a larger amount of rosemary, which had disappeared in the first recipe. It worked perfectly, so here I am to share it with you all in a separate post because, well, I could not resist taking new photos. The other recipe, by the way, features blueberries, lemon & thyme and you can find it here.

I know it’s very festive looking, as I could not resist styling the image with a festive motif. However, we are in full citrus season and oranges are sweet and glorious right now. In addition, if you are like me, you have leftover cranberries from the Holidays, either in the freezer or dried (I have both). As for rosemary, well, that is everywhere all the time. In my neighborhood, it is blooming already.

So get ready to bake!

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BUNDT CAKE WITH ORANGE, CRANBERRIES AND ROSEMARY
yields: 1 standard size bundt/pound cake (about 10 portions)

• 380 gr. (13.4 oz.) sugar
• 220 gr. / 7.8 oz  (2 sticks + 2 Tablespoons) butter, softened + extra for the cake pan
• 340 gr. / 12 oz.  all purpose flour, sieved twice + extra for the cake pan and cranberries
• 240 ml. / 9 fl. oz. (ca 1 cup) buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 320 gr. / 2 cups good, dried cranberries
• finely grated rind of 2 large oranges (or 3 smaller ones)
• 4 Tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, lightly chopped
• good dark rum, not spiced, but that is your preference

For the glaze:

• 2 cups powder sugar, sieved
• 1 Tablespoon good rum
• 1-2 teasp. freshly squeezed orange juice, filtered from the pulp

You will also need 1 bundt-pound cake form 24 cm/9.5″ diameter. If you like the one I used here, you can find it at this Amazon page.

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First thing: place the dried cranberries in a bowl and cover with rum, then let soak at least overnight.
If you prefer, you can also use fresh cranberries, in which case the rum will not be needed.

Always start with all ingredients at room temperature.

Tip: use a gentle hand when grating the orange peel and make sure you only get the orange part, leaving the bitter white part behind. This applies to all citrus peel, even when scraping it or slicing it off.

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1. Using a pastry brush, butter the chosen bundt cake pan thoroughly. If you are using a fancy one like the one I used, make sure you get every tiny nook and cranny. Coat with flour and tap off the excess. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F.

2. Place the double-sieved flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and blend together.

In a large glass or stainless steel prepping bowl, whisk the sugar with the butter until light and fluffy. Add the grated orange peel, then whisk in the eggs one at a time, blending completely before adding the next one. Add the vanilla extract.

3. Sprinkle in the chopped rosemary, then start working in the sieved flour and buttermilk in alternate small batches, making sure to start and finish with the flour. Blend each addition well before adding the next. Using a rubber spatula, brush down the sides of the bowl as you work to make sure all the ingredients are blended in.

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4. Remove the cranberries from the rum, and gently squeeze out the excess rum. Enjoy the leftover cranberry-rum later when you relax. It’s so good!
Place the cranberries in a clean bowl and lightly coat them with a little flour. Gently add them to the cake batter, picking them up with your fingers to make sure any excess flour stays in the bowl and does not end up in the batter. If you are using the fresh cranberries, the procedure is the same.

Flouring the cranberries will prevent them from sinking all to the bottom of the cake. Fold them in using the rubber spatula.

5. Pour the cake batter into the buttered and floured cake pan making sure to distribute it evenly. Tap the filled pan on the counter a couple of times to get rid of any air bubbles and then place it on the center rack of the pre-heated oven to bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until an inserted wooden skewer comes out clean.

Remember every oven is different. Hopefully, you know yours and you will know when the cake is done, and if the temperature number needs tweaking up or down.

6. Place the cake on a rack to cool for about 30 minutes, then carefully flip it upside-down and un-mold it onto another rack to complete the cooling process to room temperature.

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7. Prepare the glaze. Place the sieved powder sugar in a bowl. Using a whisk, blend in the rum first then add the orange juice 1 teasp. at a time. The consistency of the glaze needs to be a slow flow. If too thick, add extra liquid 1/2 teasp. at a time. If too thick, add powder sugar 1 Tablespoon at a time. Drizzle with a spoon over the cake, or directly from the bowl, whichever works best for you.

You can also decorate the cake with sprigs of rosemary and cranberries like I did. If you do, do it just before serving so it will look fresh.
For a simpler finish, just dust the cake with powder sugar instead of glaze. Enjoy!

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