Orange Cranberry Cake

We usually have drama practices at home almost every weekend and we take turns to feed the army. I get to try few recipes on them but rarely get to take pictures as it all vanishes within half an hour or less. I always look forward to my turn as I get few more guinea pigs ;) I wanted to make a simple snack cake for the troop and had cranberries sitting on the counter and whole orange tree with ripe oranges in the backyard.

I had my eye on this recipe for very long time as I love orange flavor. Substituting eggs, milk and butter was something I was very reluctant to try all in same batch. Just in case if that doesn't come all together as its supposed to be then it becomes difficult to finish. I like this orange cake so much that I make very often. Using cranberries in that orange cake was going to be my last option as I know it will come out great. But I wanted to try a new recipe(!) so went on searching for a different recipe. I had tried this maple pecan cake by Shyamala with walnuts and agave syrup, soy milk. Also had tried ET's take on the same recipe using agave syrup and almond milk. It is such a forgiving recipe that I wanted to alter it to suit with ingredients I had on hand.

Orange Cranberry Cake

Here is how I did it -

1.5 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

6 tbsp Turbinado Sugar

3 tbsp Agave Syrup
1/2 cup Oil

1/2 cup Dried Cranberries (I used orange flavored cranberries)

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 tbsp Lemon Juice (I used Meyer Lemon)

1/2 cup Orange Juice (I used freshly squeezed)

2 tbsp Orange Zest
1/4 tsp Salt

Preparation -

Orange Cranberry Cake with Orange Tree

Preheat oven at 350F. Grease 8" baking and dust it with flour.

Mix together sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt to mix it thoroughly. Then add cranberries and mix well.

Mix orange zest, lemon juice, orange juice, agave syrup, oil, vanilla extract in food processor.

Add the flour mixture in 2 batches in the wet ingredients.

Mix for a minute and pour batter in the greased pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let it cool for 15-20 minutes and then Take it off the pan and cut into pieces.

Tips -

1. You can easily add 2 tbsp more orange juice and omit lemon juice.
2. You can use white sugar but I like rustic taste of turbinado.
3. As ET has mentioned this is pretty dry cake but works great with coffee/tea.