Cranberry Orange Cake and Scones (a double feature!)

When life gives you oranges…make orange juice! (and then use it to bake? Is that how it goes?)

This weekend seemed like a good time to finally put all those oranges from the orange tree we have to use. I had recently bought some fresh cranberries (too many fresh cranberries) and decided if the two work well together in a cranberry relish on Thanksgiving, why shouldn’t they work well together in a nice little bundt cake? So that’s what I did. Only I still had a LOT of cranberries left over. I thought…perfect…two bundt cakes! But then this funny thing happened – I went to the pantry to open a new bag of sugar…and there was none. How could this be? I had just bought two bags of sugar recently! So, as it turns out, I bake a LOT more than I thought I do. I had to remind myself of that kitschy little saying “Keep calm and…” …bake on! And so I created powdered sugar scones. (British theme in those last two sentences?) Enjoy, bakers!

Cranberry-Orange Bundt Cake

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup of sour cream

zest of one orange

juice of one orange

1 cup fresh cranberries

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl cover cranberries with a light layer of flour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together butter and sugar in stand mixer until smooth. Add eggs and mix again. Add zest, sour cream, juice until well combined.

Add dry ingredients in three parts. Once mixed in, fold in cranberries, careful not to break them so you don’t get a pink cake! Pour mixture into WELL buttered bundt pan.

Bake for about an hour.

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

juice of 1/2 an orange

Beat sugar and juice together until proper pouring consistency, but thick enough so that it doesn’t all drip off.

Once cake has cooled – drizzle over cake.

Cranberry-Orange scones

2 sticks butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

juice of 1/2 an orange

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup fresh cranberries

(same icing as above)

Whisk together flour, and baking soda.

In a separate bowl cover cranberries with a light layer of flour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter and sugar together in stand mixer until creamy. Add egg, vanilla, and orange juice and mix well.

Add dry ingredients and combine with wet. Fold in cranberries.

Scoop tablespoon size dollops onto parchment paper and flatten slightly with fork. Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden brown. Drizzle with icing.

Bon Appetit!