Orange Cranberry Cake

Hi Trials, I baked this cake last night for my sister's b-day tomorrow, Sept 2nd. I wrapped it in foil and put in the freezer. My question is, was it ok to put in freezer? Also, before I wrapped it I leveled the cake and it seemed to me that this kind of caked was like a banana nut bread, am I right? Will it taste good if I put filling and frost the whole cake? Please let me know, I want to finish this cake today. Your help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Hi, Well, I've actually never froze it before, but I would assume that it would be fine. I personally think the cake tastes 100x's better if it is actually chilled for a while. Yes, you are right I guess you could say that in a sense it is similar to a typical banana nut bread. I have used both the OJ/PS in addition to the frosting and I liked it, mainly because most of the OJ and PS is absorbed into the center of the cake. If I want to keep it a more breakfast type feel to it, I will usually refrain from frosting it and just use the OJ/ and PS. Thanks for trying it, please let me know how you like it. BTW... Sorry for getting back to you so late, I just saw your message tonight.

* New Revised Recipe* Just a few changes: 1 3/4 cup sugar Grated rind of 2 oranges or you can substitute 1 Tbsp orange extract 1 cup milk 1 ½ sticks of butter 3 large eggs Also, for this recipe, In my opinion, I would stick with either the orange glaze or a vanilla BC in order not to take away from the flavor of the orance and cranberries. Enjoy! : )

Hi Trials, How sturdy is this cake? I am thinking of making this into a thanksgiving cake with a marshmallow fondant overlay but as you probably know, the fondant can be too heavy for some cakes to support. Thanks!

Thanks for your interest in making this cake. There should be no problem for the cake to support the fondant, it is pretty firm. Because of the orange juice, the cake is pretty moist inside. I've never put fondant on this cake before, so I'm not sure if any bleeding would take place. I would perhaps suggest cutting back on the amount of orange juice used. If you have any additional questions please feel free to write. : ) Please take note of the bake time and glaze instructions on the RE-revised recipe. (This is getting rediculous lol) ~On a side note~ I've actually been trying to tweak the recipe even more latley and realized that even after my revised copy I missed a few things. I think I need to re-submit it somehow, but for now I will paste it under this post. Just made it again today (Nov. 17,2009) and it came out much better than all of the previous recipes that I've used.

RE-revised recipe (Best one so far) Orange Cranberry Cake Ingredients 2 1/4 cup cake flour 1 3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 2 cups dried cranberries (I like to put 1 cup in food processor and pulse a few times and keep the other cup of cranberries whole.) Grated rind of 1 orange 1 cup milk 1 1/2 sticks of butter 3 large eggs (seperate egg whites) ——————— ~ To be poured over cake and absorbed ~ 1/2 cup orange juice (I prefer OJ with heavy pulp) 1 cup of powdered sugar Instructions Mix dry ingredients together. Add egg yolks, butter and milk. Mix well. Beat egg whites until fluffy (soft peaks) then fold in to the rest of the mix. Bake at 350 degrees in a greased/floured pan for 30-35 minutes (or until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean) Remove pan from oven - poke holes in the top of cake with fork – pour Orange juice mix over cake until absorbed. Cool. I typically make this in a tube pan (With enough cake batter left over for another small cake) Once the cake is cooled, I typically lightly drizzel a mixture of powdered sugar/milk glaze over the cake.

I know most of you probably know these already, but for those that don't... Keep these tips in mind while making the cake. Tips to make your cake light and fluffy ~Eggs~ Use Large eggs - Stay away from smaller eggs they tend to make your cake dense and heavy Organic eggs - for whatever reason, organic eggs seem to make cakes lighter and fluffy Use eggs at room temp - don't take your eggs straight from the fridge, let them warm up to room temp first. Separate egg white and yolk - mix egg yolks first and add to mixture - then mix egg whites to fluffy slight peaks ~Butter~ Butter - Always use at room temp - never heat it to melt - rather - put it between wax paper and beat with rolling pin until it cries for mercy. ~Scrape the sides~ Make sure to scape the sides of the bowl in order to incorporate all the ingredients thoroughly. (It can make your cake heavier if not mixed properly.) ~Sugar~ This is a new one to me - Use caster sugar when making cakes. It dissolves faster and gives the cake a lighter texture ~Flour~ Most important! USE CAKE FLOUR - regular household enriched flour is very heavy compared to cake flour. (if you don't have cake flour on hand see "how to make cake flour" below.) Sift your flour - this will aerate it and you will end up with a much lighter cake. Instead of using a blender - Fold with a spoon - add your flour mixture in and then fold with a large spoon until combined

Thanks so much Trials! Can't wait to make it!

I made the "re-vised" recipe and overall it was good. It had way too many cranberries for my liking, but that is just my personal taste. I will make this again, just with about half of the cranberries. The cake itself is moist and has a nice orange taste without being overpowering. I made a two layer 8" cake with this recipe and then frosted it with buttercream frosting. Thank you for the recipe!

We really enjoyed this cake from your latest revision. I had issues with it taking a while to bake, but I believe that was due to weather. We liked it better without the orange juice mixture.