There’s not a lot of narration with this one. I’ve been wanting to make cranberry orange muffins for a few weeks, and when I got up this morning I thought cornbread – so this is a smoosh. We couldn’t come up with a really catchy name. But the coffee cake? Oh, man – that is really yummy. Not too sweet (unless you go nuts with the glaze.) Nice tooth and corny flavor from the cornmeal, pretty red bits from the fresh cranberries along with their unmistakable zing. Then some nice orange to round it out. This one’s a keeper. I’m thinking this flavor profile would make some really good corn shortbread cookies – just need to develop a recipe.
Stay well out there, peeps – and have some cake.
Cranberry Cornmeal Coffee Cake with Orange Drizzle
This will make two 8” round cakes, or one 9”x13” rectangular cake. So, one for you and one for the neighbors – or just cut the recipe in half for a nice little breakfast cake.
Cake:
1.5 c AP flour
0.75 c yellow corn meal
2 Tb corn starch
1.25 c sugar
2 tsp. Baking powder
¼ tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp orange zest (about half an orange’s worth)
0.5 c butter, room temp
2 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 c. fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
Drizzle:
2 c. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. orange zest (so, the other half…)
Juice of the orange
Grease or line your pan(s). Preheat your oven to 375*.
In the bowl of your mixer, mix together the dry. Add the butter and beat with your paddle attachment until the mixture looks like fine crumbs (about 2 minutes). Add the wet, change to the whisk attachment and beat on high for about three minutes until it looks lighter in color and a bit fluffier than when you began. Stir in ¾ of the chopped cranberries (we’ll sprinkle the rest on top) and pour into your prepared pans. Bake about 30 min until a tester comes out clean (for the rounds; for the oblong, start checking at about 40 min).
Once cool, mix your drizzle. Put the sugar and zest in a bowl, and slowly squeeze in enough juice to make a thick icing. You want to almost so think you could use it as a frosting. This way it will hold it’s shape nicely when you zig-zag it across the cake. (Can you make it thinner? Why not? You’re a adult, do whatchuwant.) Pop it in a piping bag or a quart ziplock, snip the corner and go to town.
