for
Thanksgiving & Christmas
Today’s recipe is a cake, and as regular Lavender and Lovage readers will know, I am an avid baker and love baking cakes…..it’s a pretty sensational cake, I think you’ll agree, and it comes by way of the Secret Recipe Club, a group of writers and bloggers who regularly make a recipe from another member’s site/blog; the assignment is sent out secretly (hence the name), and then we all select a recipe (or more) to make, photograph and share on our own blogs/sites. Everyone in the group posts on the same Monday, and then we all get to see who was assigned our blog and what recipe(s) they’ve chosen. I’ve been a member since 2011 and it’s a great way to meet new people and try new recipes. Today’s recipe for Spiced Cranberry & Walnut Bundt Cake, is sadly my last recipe for The Secret Recipe Club, as it has finally closed its doors, due to dwindling numbers……which, is very sad. But, in the spirit of the club and with Thanksgiving and Christmas looming on the horizon, I have decided to go out with a spectacular cake to celebrate 5 years of membership and friendship!
My “Secret assigned blog for today, is “Thyme for Cooking Blog”; and, after reading all about Katie, I realised we had lots in common; we both live in France now, and we have both lived all over the world, although Katie is originally from the USA and I am British. Kate’s blog is a wonderful fusion of French, European and American recipes, with tales of restoring a farmhouse, so it makes for tasty and interesting reading! As ever, I found it hard to choose just one recipe to make, and I bookmarked lots of Katie’s recipes before I decided to make her Cranberry Bread. I was very temped by these recipes too…….Pipérade, a French classic and favourite of mine; Seafood Newburg in Puff Pastry Shells; Caramelized Onion, Herb and Cheese Stuffed Bread and her recipe for Hunter’s Pie with Venison and Duck Sausage. However, having several kilos of fresh walnuts at my disposal, from the tree in our back garden, as well as some plump cranberries in the freezer, I decided on her Cranberry Bread, but I made in a bundt tin instead of a loaf tin.
Katie says about her Cranberry Bread recipe, “This has been a family holiday tradition forever” and she has taken the bread into her French classes, with people asking for the recipe. I stuck to the recipe as Katie posted it, but, I decided to make the bread into a showstopper cake and decorate it for the upcoming festivities and feasting in November and December. In order to bake it in a bundt tin, I also increased the size, but other than that, this is Katie’s recipe, but with a few of my own bells and whistles added! As Katie is American, I have also changed the cups to metric measurements, so my European, Australian and Canadian friends and readers can follow the recipe with ease. The recipe is very low in fat, but that gives it a rather lovely open texture, and the addition of the orange juice and juicy cranberries makes it a moist cake for all it only has 2 tablespoons of butter in it.
I hope you feel inspired to have a go at making this cake, it looks and taste divine, and takes the minimum of effort to make. If you can’t source fresh cranberries, as is often hard for me in France, then frozen cranberries work just fine, but DON’T use dried cranberries also called “craisins” as they will not work in this cake recipe, which relies on the juiciness of the fruit and the orange juice to make a moist crumb, in the absence of butter. I’d just like to end by saying a BIG THANKS to all the moderators and people behind the scenes that made the Secret Recipe Club happen, and a BIG THANKS also goes out to all the wonderful people I have met over the last 5 years – I will miss you all, but hopefully we won’t become strangers, as they say across the pond! The recipe for Katie’s Cranberry Bread and my adapted version of Spiced Cranberry & Walnut Bundt Cake is shared below, and ENJOY if you make it! Karen
Spiced Cranberry & Walnut Bundt Cake
(Adpated from original recipe here:
Cranberry Bread by Katie Zeller)
Image: Katie Zeller
Ingredients:
250g white caster sugar
2 heaped tablespoons butter, unsalted
2 eggs
360ml orange juice
300g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons mixed spice
280g fresh cranberries, or frozen
200g chopped walnuts
150g icing sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice
cranberries, walnut halves and bay leaves to decorate
Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
2. Butter and flour a 20cm (8″) bundt or kugelhopf tin.
3. Cream the sugar, butter and egg together.
4. Stir in orange juice and mix well.
5. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir well.
6. Add the mixed spice, cranberries and walnuts and stir to combine.
7. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Turn out to cool on a wire rack and decorate when completely cold by drizzling the orange icing over the top of the cake, and then adding the cranberries, walnuts and bay leaves.
Icing:
Add the orange juice to the icing sugar to make a thick but runny glaze/icing. Decorate as above.
All of my
SECRET RECIPE CLUB RECIPES
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Looks lovely Karen, going on my list as I love the cranberry & orange combination. Sorry to see the Secret Recipe Club as ended as would have loved to join in, I’m just always really bad at finding these things!
Thanks Michelle, it is such a shame, as you would have loved the SRC – but, I may attempt to try to revive something like it, so I will let you know! Karen
You chose a real masterpiece to end your time with SRC, we’ve been members for the same long time, it’s hard to accept it’s over
But of course, I will be here often, actually as often as you post a new recipe, faithful subscriber that I am!
HA!
Thanks Sally……..it’s funny just how bereft I feel at the closing of an on-line site with people whom I’ve never met, but there was a real family and community spirit about the SRC and I will miss it…….I will be popping over to see you regularly however!
Karen
Karen, stunning as always. Can’t wait to try this for Christmas!!!
Thanks Charmie – This would also be perfect for a Thanksgiving tea time treat too! Or just because it is nearly winter!
How pretty! And I love the addition of the orange icing and, of course the gorgeous decorations. Nice to see an old family staple become a fancy Christmas pudding!
Yes, it’s sad to see the SRC close. I’ve only been a member for less than 2 years but have really enjoyed it.
Thanks Katie – your recipe was wonderful, and so easy to make too…..I simply baked it in a different cake tin and decorated it for the festive season, and it worked like a dream!
oh that looks so beautiful… I love how the berries have burst inside. Such an great alternative Christmas cake too!
Thanks Dom, I was very pleased with how well this cake turned out and I will be making another more festive version for Christmas I think!
That is absolutely beautiful and so festive! I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks so much Tammy – it is a very easy recipe but looks spectacular!
I love anything with cranberries, and this cake is absolutely gorgeous. What a great idea to take the bread and turn it into a cake. What a great way to send the SRC off in style.
I am also a BIG fan of cranberries too Anna and especially when they are added to cakes and bakes. Thanks, Karen
Oh Karen, how I will miss your SRC posts! I think you and Katie were a match for sure. I definitely want to stay in touch my friend. You are amazing. Group D rules!!
Awww thanks Karen, and me yours too, but we can still visit each other…..and yes, GROUP D rules, I agree! Thanks so much for your wonderful friendship over the last 5 years and we will stay in touch, Karen
A beautiful bundt, with such great flavours: cranberries are such a terrific ingredient. I finally came round to bundt-dom the just a short time ago for a Clandestine Cake Club evening, and I am such a convert, so I cannot wait to make this.
Thanks so much Baking Fanatic – I’m also a big Bundt Fan too! Do let me know if you make this for the CCC! Karen
That is a spectacular looking cake and worthy of a final SRC post. I don’t use my Bundt pan often enough, I think I need to get it out again. I’m going to miss the SRC, so much in fact that…
I’m going to be hosting a Link up party starting in January on the first Monday and calling it First Monday, in which I’ll be inviting all SRC members (former), to participate with adding their favorite recipe for the previous month. Not the one with the most views, but the one they made that they like the best. I hope you’ll you’ll join in.
What a Great idea Sid, I will join in with pleasure and I am also thinking of starting a smaller group along the similar lines to SRC, so will let you know what happens there!
I loved what you made for your last recipe too, and I’m sure we will be in touch often!
Karen
This cake is beautiful!!
Thanks so much Erin! 🙂
This is a great recipe to get into the holiday spirit!
Thank you Elizabeth – yes this is very festive!
Wow. This cranberry walnut cake looks so good, so festive and so special. This seems like a perfect thing for the holidays and a perfect end to SRC. Great post!
Thank you Stephanie – I wanted to go out with a stunning bake! Karen
Such a pretty bundt cake. It just screams Holidays. Its been great getting to know you through SRC.
Lovely to know you through SRC too Trisha – Karen
I love this cake. It looks stunning. And the pics are gorgeous, Karen.
Thanks for sharing the recipe! Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks Jake, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did if you make it! Karen
INCREDIBLY pretty cake, and a great finish to SRC. May I say it was been a pleasure being in SRC with you, and I will miss our monthly meet-ups. I know I will see you around on the interwebs, though. Take good care!
Thanks Dorothy, I have loved being in the same group with you and also cooking from your site too, see you on-line as you say! Karen
How lovely – I might make that next year instead of a traditional Christmas cake. It would make a gorgeous centrepiece and hopefully wouldn’t hang around until April, like our Christmas cake tends to do!
Yes, that is exactly what I thought when I made it! There’s still time to make however, this year, unless you already have a cake made that is! Happy Christmas, Karen
I was perusing my saved cakes and this jumped right out and just begged to be made. I do have a question though – do you have any suggestions for “mixed spices”?
Thanks.
Hi Paula, mixed spice is what is called Apple pie spice in N America – hope that helps?