Thanksgiving is around the corner and just in time, this Cranberry-Walnut Coffee Cake came up as one of the selections for The Cake Slice Bakers' monthly bake.
It has the flavors of the holiday - cranberries, walnuts, and fresh orange zest. I knew it would be a good choice!
Be sure and read through the recipe and get your ingredients ready to go. The butter and egg really need to be at room temperature, so put them out while you're preheating the oven.
The end result is a tender, loose-textured coffee cake that's hard to stop eating.
My streusel didn't crumble up like the photo in the book, but it still made a nice buttery, almost caramelized layer on top of the cake.
I think you'll like this Cranberry-Walnut Coffee Cake. Make it for a brunch or holiday table. I look forward to enjoying it with a cup of coffee tomorrow morning.
Looking for more cranberry recipes? You'll like Fresh Cranberry Bars made with fresh cranberries. Or try America's Test Kitchen's Cranberry Sour Cream Pound Cake - delicious and lighter than your usual pound cake.
Update: This cake got better and better every day (stored at room temperature). It will be a good make-ahead dessert.
Cranberry-Walnut Coffee Cake
Delicious crumbly coffee cake full of cranberries and walnuts with a buttery topping.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon cold butter, diced into small pieces
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ C dried cranberries
- ½ C chopped walnuts
- 1 C all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ c butter
- 10 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 10 tablespoon sour cream, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon finely grated orange peel
Instructions
- Set out egg and sour cream so they can get to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray an 8" round cake pan and dust with flour.
- For the streusel: combine the butter, brown sugar, and flour in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut in the butter to the flour/brown sugar until the mixture resembles small peas. Set aside.
- For the cake: place the cranberries and walnuts in a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the flour, and toss to coat. Set aside.
- In another small bowl, whisk together the remaining flour (1 cup minus 1 tablespoon), baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Place the softened butter into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Add the granulated sugar and beat until fluffy (about five minutes - note: mine never got real fluffy, but blended together nicely and fluffed up a bit). Add the egg and beat well.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternate adding the flour and sour cream - starting and ending with the flour. Add the orange peel and beat 30 seconds.
- Fold in the cranberry/walnut mixture, then scape the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top.
- Bake the cake approximately 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out virtually clean. Place the pan on a wire rack and let cool for about 15 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edges and turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
Notes
Don't overmix or the cake will be tougher than it should be.
Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Little Everyday Cakes by Candace Floyd. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!
Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.
The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.
Cranberry-Walnut Coffee Cake
I might come back to this recipe for an addition to a holiday brunch buffet. It looks amazing.
Yum! I could almost taste your cake just by looking at the picture.
Your cake turned out great. I agree that the flavors are definitely reminiscent of the holidays. I like how your topping kind of caramelized as it add another texture to the cake.
Thanks Felice. It seemed to get better every day!