Cranberry Bundt Cake

The contrast between this creamy-textured and sweet pound cake and the tartness of the fresh cranberries is refreshing! If you have a large navel orange, you can use the grated peel and the juice in this recipe. If you don’t have ¾ cup of orange juice, you may substitute part for milk, and if you're short cranberries, substitute part chopped nuts, like pecans. The liqueur can be a homemade flavored vodka, such as vanilla, cranberry, or orange, or you may wish to experiment with your favorite commercial liqueur . . .

1 ¼ cup butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

5 eggs

3 cups white flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup orange juice

¼ cup liqueur (vanilla vodka, triple sec, etc.)

1 tbls orange zest

2 cups cranberries, chopped

Place a large pan of water on the bottom oven rack and preheat oven to 300° F.

Beat butter, sugar, eggs, and extract in a large bowl on low speed with mixer until blended, then on high speed for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

If you have a stand mixer, you can be sifting the flour, salt, and baking powder together while the mixer is beating the moist ingredients. Add dry ingredients alternately with the orange juice and liqueur to the creamed mixture, mixing lightly after each addition. Fold in the orange zest and cranberries.

Turn batter into greased and floured 12 cup (3 litre) or 9-inch bundt or tube pan. Bake at 300° F for 1 ½ hours. Remove from oven and place pan on Pyrex tumbler to cool for 10 minutes. Then, gently pry around edges with a thin plastic knife or spatula and turn out onto a cooling rack.

If you wish to decorate your cake a bit, try placing a lace paper doily over the top and dusting with icing sugar to give it a decorative pattern when the doily is removed. Or, try this Orange Glaze or an Orange Icing.