Orange Cranberry Wonder Cake

This past Christmas, I had been really wanting to lay out a whole table, make some delicious treats to share with you all. I'm not a Christian as you all know, but you don't have to be one to celebrate Christmas, do you? I love the festival just soooo much. For me Christmas is all about hope, joy, cheer, merriment, love and being together with family and friends. All the good things in life.

And the fairy lights...lets not forget about the fairy lights please. Can they be any prettier (total Chandler impression here, albeit not sarcastic)?! The way they twinkle, little drops of sparkling gold, they do something to my heart n soul...something indescribable...mesmerizing....make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and lead me into a world of bliss. If I could, I would gaze at them forever.

Coming back to what I am to share with you today, and I'm not exaggerating, but this is THE best cake I've ever made till date. Perfectly moist, light, sweet deliciousness combined with the fresh tang of the orange and the tartness of cranberries. Are you with me people...I do implore you to try this out because not being able to share a bite with you all was like seeing the sunset at a beach all alone. Come on to the recipe then... 

Serves: 8 slices

Time taken: 45 mins

Complexity: **

You'll Need

1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup cream or 1 1/2 stick unsalted butter
3/4 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of one orange
3/4 cup of cranberries
Handful walnuts (optional)
Love, love and more love

For Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
juice of half orange

Method

Have your oven preheating at 180C or 350F.

Line a 8" or a 10" baking pan with a parchment sheet.

Take a bowl. Whisk in the cream/butter and sugar together till they become fluffy.

Add 3 eggs and whisk until the mix becomes frothy and you feel that the eggs are sufficiently aerated, approx 2 minutes.

Add the vanilla extract to it

Grate the orange zest into the batter. Please do ignore my orange zest. Its at the top of my list to get a microplane. 

In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder together. 


Transfer the dry ingredients to the batter and fold in the flour. Do not over mix. 

Lastly, fold in the cranberries and your love into the batter. 

(In case you are adding walnuts, this would be the time to do it)

Pour this glossy cake batter to the lined tin, and place in the oven for around 25-30 minutes depending on your oven size. Look at this beautiful baby...

The cake should be golden and ready by then. Do make sure you check with a strand of uncooked spaghetti or a wooden skewer or toothpick whether the cake is done or not. 

Once done, remove the cake from the oven and let it cool down for a couple minutes on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, and this is totally optional, on a very low flame, in a thick bottomed pan, add in the powdered sugar and orange juice and let it become a thick white syrup. 

What happened with mine was too little sugar and too high a flame. So the sugar crystallized and I still poured it over my cake. This definitely make the cake more moist, but we ended up having sugar crystals on top of the rich soft cake. Not a bad thing at all, it in fact tasted like candy and added an interesting texture. So I leave this last decision to your discretion. As you can clearly see that this is a life altering one, so make sure you choose well. :)  

Cut the cake and make sure you share it with all the love with your loved ones... Indulge! 

Psstttt.... more recipes from my Christmas table coming soon!