Orange & Almond Cake with Cranberry Glaze
Hi friends, happy Sunday! I hope this post finds you well caffeinated and well rested. I’m relaxing on the couch in my comfiest loungewear after a solid bacon breakfast and a bop around the kitchen to Christmas songs with Boyfriend. In a few hours, we’ll be watching The Santa Clause 2 – Boyfriend’s first time! – and eating warmed mince pies with large dollops of whipped cream. Needless to say, I’m feeling both festive and content. I’m here this morning to continue our theme of holiday bakes, this time with cake! To be more specific: Orange & Almond Cake with Cranberry Glaze. Festive, but make it pink.
Orange & Almond Cake with Cranberry Glaze: The Breakdown
I’ve had the idea for this Orange & Almond Cake stuck in my head for months now and I’m thrilled it worked out so well! I wanted to make something lightly festive, but also something that could be baked year round. With my Lime Loaf Cake in mind, I dreamed up this little number that can easily be dressed up or down depending on the season.
It’s a simple 7-inch, single layer orange cake, flavoured with a handful of ground almonds and a little extract. The cake uses yogurt, which, together with the almonds & orange juice, keeps everything lovely and moist – even days after it’s been baked! The almond flavor intensifies overnight, giving a lovely festive bite that’s almost reminiscent of stollen.
The glaze is made of simmered down cranberries, icing sugar, and a few splashes of water. Three! Ingredients! It’s tart-yet-sweet, and so dang cute! The strained cranberries make the juice the sweetest shade of pink and I’m totally obsessed with it.
Orange & Almond Cake with Cranberry Glaze: How to
This is such an easy cake to bake, I was able to take step-by-step photos of the entire process. Let me talk you through it:
Our ingredient list is pretty humble: plain flour, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarb, orange zest + juice, full-fat yogurt, melted butter, caster sugar, and an egg. Not pictured but equally as important: almond extract.
Dry ingredients get whisked together with the orange zest.
The orange juice gets whisked into the yogurt.
Melted butter meets caster sugar, egg, and almond extract. Seriously, how easy is this?
Now to bring everything together! We mix a third of the dry ingredients in, then half of the yogurt mixture, and repeat. You know the drill.
That’s it! Transfer the batter into the prepared tin, bake, and ta-dah!
The baked cake comes out smelling wonderfully citrus-y, deep golden brown, and perfectly flat. When it’s completely cool, we whip up the adorable cranberry glaze and drizzle it evenly across the top of the cake. I sliced up some extra cranberries for some light decoration, but you can skip that step or even take it a step further and make sugared cranberries if you want. This cake baby can be as fussy or as unfussy as we want.
I just know you’re going to love it! Happy baking!
My love to you,
Vicki xo
Orange & Almond Cake with Cranberry Glaze
INGREDIENTS
for the cake
- 140 g plain flour
- 40 g ground almonds
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- zest of 1 orange
- 145 g greek yogurt, full-fat
- 20 g fresh orange juice, sieved
- 195 g caster sugar
- 125 g salted butter, melted & cooled
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
for the glaze
- 40 g frozen cranberries
- 1 tbsp water
- 95 g icing sugar, sifted ; more if needed
to finish
- sliced cranberries, if desired
DIRECTIONS
for the cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line an 7-inch round cake tin with baking parchment. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and orange zest until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt and orange juice until combined fully and completely smooth.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and melted butter until smooth and lump free. Add the egg & almond extract into the bowl and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add a third of the dry ingredients to this mixture and use the whisk to mix together until justtt combined. Add half of the yogurt mix to the bowl and whisk together until justtt combined, but not entirely. Repeat these steps, alternating the dry and wet ingredients, until everything has been added to the bowl. Ensure that the mixture is fully combined, but try not to beat together too much as this makes the cake dry.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin & bake in the preheated oven for 30-40, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean and the cake is lightly golden all over. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10-minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
for the glaze
- In a small pot, combine the frozen cranberries and water over a medium-low heat. Stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, simmer for 5-10minutes until the cranberries have started to break down and release juices.
- Pour the cranberries into a fine-mesh sieve over a medium bowl, squeezing as much juice out of them as possible. Re-sieve if necessary. Add the sifted icing sugar into the juice & whisk together until the glaze has come together. If the glaze is too thick, add a few drops of water. If the glaze is too thin, add a small amount more icing sugar.
to assemble
- When the cake is cooled entirely, evenly pour the glaze over the top of the cake. Sprinkle the top of the cake with sliced cranberries. Enjoy!
Did you make this recipe? I’d love to know! Please leave a comment & a rating below, or tag me on Instagram @imvcki. Thank you so much for supporting Passionate Baker!
related Christmas posts:
Cranberry Apple & Pear Pie, with a Cinnamon Hazelnut Crumble
Kladdkaka, Swedish Chocolate Cake
Cranberry Granola