christmas collection 2012 - lemon cranberry bundt cakes

christmas collection 2012 - lemon cranberry bundt cakes

• 17 Dec 2012

When I started compiling recipes for the 2012 Christmas Collection the first item on my list was this recipe for Lemon Cranberry Bundt cakes. I toyed with the idea last Christmas but ran out of time so wrote the idea down on my kitchen chalkboard.



I used my favourite lemon cake recipe for the base, added some cranberries to the mix for a bit of zing, doused the cakes in lemon syrup then crowned the little cakes with a drizzle of lemon glacé icing and some chopped dried cranberries.



I thought they looked really festive with their little crown of red. I’d hoped to use red currants for decoration as they usually appear in the fruit shop at this time of year but so far there’s been no sign of them.



Here’s the recipe for you.

Lemon Cranberry Bundt Cakes printable recipe
Cake
1 lemon, rind grated
110 gm (½ cup) caster sugar
½ level teaspoon baking powder
125 gm (4 oz) unsalted butter
2 large eggs
150 gm (1 cup) self raising flour
1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen
A few tablespoons plain yoghurt
Optional - dried cranberries for decoration

Method
Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF. Grease and flour 6 mini bundt tins.

In a food processor, pulverise the sugar and the lemon rind. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Add with the butter and eggs to the food processor. Process the mixture until a smooth batter forms. If the mixture is looking a bit thick, add some yoghurt to the mixture. Remove the batter from the food processor and transfer to a medium bowl. Gently stir in the cranberries.

Spoon or pipe the mixture into the prepared tins and bake at 170º/325ºF for 20-25 minutes or until the cakes are risen and golden. The cake should spring back when gently pressed with your finger.

Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a rack. Turn the cakes onto a serving plate and spoon the warm syrup over.

When the cakes are cool, ice with the lemon icing and top with coarsely chopped dried cranberries.

Syrup
150 gm (⅔ cup) caster sugar
The juice of 1 lemon ~ 50 mls

To make the syrup, mix the sugar and lemon juice together in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Lemon Glace Icing
1 cup sifted icing sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
15 gm (1 tablespoon) softened unsalted butter

In a small bowl combine the icing sugar with the lemon juice and softened butter and beat until smooth. Place the bowl over a pan of hot water (or you can microwave on high for ~ 10 seconds) and beat until glossy.



I’ll be back tomorrow with another recipe from the 2012 Christmas Collection, so see you then,

Jillian