Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake

This is the third Holiday Season I have been baking this extraordinary tasting Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake for my family and friends.

It contains fresh cranberries and almonds, but the real difference compared to your ordinary holiday cake is the spice combination. Along with cinnamon and ginger it features Chinese five-spice powder. Chinese five-spice powder is a spice blend containing ground fennel seeds, Szechuan peppercorns, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves. I purchase it at my local Whole Foods.

The cake stays very moist, since its liquid component is Greek yogurt. The glaze is old fashioned and simple, just orange juice and powdered sugar.

Don’t miss out on this crowd pleasing holiday dessert. It is an absolute winner! Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake will be a hit for years to come in my family.

Ingredients:

cake:
* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 3/4 cup (2 1/2 ounces) almond flour or almond meal
* 2 1/2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
* 3 large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 cup plain reduced-fat (2%) Greek style yogurt, room temperature
* 1 cup chopped toasted almonds
* 1 cup halved fresh cranberries (or frozen, don’t thaw)
* 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries (I omitted them)

icing:
* 1/3 cup powdered sugar
* 4 teaspoons (about) orange juice

Directions:

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. I used two smaller ones and divided the batter in half.

Whisk first 8 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Set aside.
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add both sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract, then Greek-style yogurt. Add dry ingredients; beat just until blended. Fold in almonds and all cranberries (I omitted the dried Cranberries). Transfer batter to prepared Bundt pan or the two smaller ones.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Mine only took 45 minutes on Convection and the smaller Bundts took exactly 32 minutes. Cool cake or cakes in pan 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack and cool completely.

Icing:

Stir powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons orange juice in small bowl until sugar dissolves. Mix in more juice by 1/2 teaspoonfuls to reach consistency of heavy cream. Spoon icing over cake, allowing it to drip down sides. Let stand until icing sets, at least 30 minutes. Cover with cake dome and store at room temperature.

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s “Three part Baking Series” from my copy of the Bon Appétit magazine, Nov. 2008.