Orange and Cranberry Bundt Cake with Fresh Orange Glaze

This morning was wet, cold & miserable...what a perfect opportunity to turn out a few kitchen cupboards.  It's a job I never relish but hey ho it has to be done.  I found a packet of dried cranberries left over from Christmas that needed to be used up.  I had oranges in the fruit bowl so what better than an orange & cranberry cake.  It was also a great excuse to at last use a bundt tin that I bought a while back.

The cake batter was just a regular sponge... 3 eggs, 6oz of self raising flour, sugar & butter.  I made it extra specially moist by pre-soaking the cranberries in orange juice before baking. Needless to say the cake turned out really well and is packed with lovely citrusy flavours along with the sweet/sour bite of the cranberries.

Ingredients:- to serve around 8 good portions.

I used my small 17cm/ 6¾" Bundt tin.  Make sure it's well greased and floured or alternatively use a quick release spray. Alternatively use a 2lb loaf tin or an 7 inch cake tin lined with parchment paper. 

If you prefer to measure in cups rather than weigh your ingredients here's an Easy Conversion Chart  until I can manage to convert it for you . 


For the cake:-

175g /6oz each of self raising flour, softened butter, caster sugar
3 eggs
175g of dried cranberries
2 oranges zested
the juice of 1 ½ oranges
 ( in cups 1½ cups  Self raising flour, ¾ cup superfine sugar, ¾cup/1½ sticks softened butter)  ¾ cup dried cranberries, 3 eggs) 

method,

Before you start baking...soak the cranberries in the juice of 1½ oranges and leave to soak for an hour or so.

Heat the oven to 160c/325f/gas 3

Cream together the butter & sugar until light & fluffy
add the eggs one at a time until well combined...  beat well with each addition
Carefully fold in the flour and the orange zest
Strain the soaked cranberries and orange juice ... reserving the juice for the glaze
add the soaked cranberries to the batter
Mix gently through the batter
Add to the tin.
Should come around 2/3rds of the way up the tin
Place any excess batter in a smaller tin/dish to bake later on  

Bake for approx 35 mins... check to see if baked right through by placing a skewer towards the centre of the cake.   It should be golden brown with no wobble and the skewer should come out clean. If not quite ready then check at 5 minute intervals until cooked through.

Leave in the tin for at least 10 minutes before turning out carefully and leaving to cool on a wire rack.

The glaze, to be applied when the cake is cold.

If there's any orange juice left from soaking the cranberries then add enough icing /confectioners sugar to make a thickish but still runny icing and dribble it over the cake. 
Just use the juice from the last half of the orange if the cranberries have soaked the juice up

Serve & enjoy

This cake should keep for a few days in an airtight container