Cranberry Cake with Orange Glaze (Italian)

Cranberry cake with orange glaze is a light and delicious dessert option for the holiday season. Not too heavy, and not too sweet with the lovely festive flavour of cranberries. Many cranberry cake recipes are heavy and loaded with sugar, whereas this one is light, but also light on the sugar. Feel free to add a bit more sugar if you have a big sweet tooth, but I have never had anyone complain that this cake needs any more sweetness.

Cranberry Cake:
3 eggs
1 1/8 cup sugar (250 g)
1¾ cup all-purpose flour, unbleached (275 g)
2½ tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup butter, softened (100 g)
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (100 g)
2½-3 cups fresh cranberries, if you have a 12 oz bag, just reserve come cranberries for the decoration (300 g)
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Orange Glaze:
½ orange, freshly squeezed (about 2 oz)
3 Tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4) and grease and flour an 8" spring form pan.

Toss the cranberries in a little flour and set aside.

Place the sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy.

Sift the flour with the baking powder then add to the mixture in the bowl a little at a time along with the softened butter. Continue to mix until completely blended, then stir in the yogurt.

Add the cranberries and vanilla and stir until evenly combined, then put the batter into the prepared tin.

Bake for 50-60 minutes (depending on your oven), but test with a cake tester or skewer to make sure the cranberry cake is done before removing from the oven. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then remove the side of the spring form pan.

Glaze and Decorate the Cranberry Cake:
While the cake is cooling (before taking it out of the pan) put the sugar and orange juice for the glaze into a small pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 6 or 7 minutes or until starts to become a sticky glaze.

Decorative Cranberries - if you want to decorate the top with a few glazed and sugared cranberries, it's easy. Before putting the glaze on the cake, drop a few berries into the pot to cover with glaze, and remove immediately. Place the cranberries on a silicone sheet or flat plate to set. If you want sugared cranberries, simply roll them in sugar after dipping in the glaze.

Pour and brush the glaze over the top of the cake while it is still warm. I place a plate under the cooling rack to catch any drips.

When cool, place on a cake stand or serving plate and decorate as desired. I used glazed and sugared cranberries with 3 orange leaves.

Makes 10-12 servings.

Cook's Notes: The glaze is optional if you want a naked cake, it is also good plain. Or else you can frost the cake with an orange frosting like this one (make half the recipe).

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1: Amount per Serving: Calories: 175, Total Fat: 3g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Trans Fat: 0g, Unsaturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 33mg, Sodium: 174mg, Carbohydrates: 26g, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 8g, Protein: 4g