Cranberry and Walnut cake

Trying to rid ourselves of all the delicious things we bought for the Christmas festivities before entering our well-intentioned (but likely to be short lived) period of fasting and abstinence, I made a cranberry and walnut loaf using up some fresh cranberries and the last few walnuts in the bowl.  I used an American recipe and once I’d converted cups to metric weights, it took moments to whip up the mixture.  It baked really well, although that may in part be as a result of my new oven, and tasted fantastic, the cranberries adding just the right amount of sharpness!

 

Cranberry and Walnut Loaf

Ingedients

250g (10 oz) SR flour

150g caster sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

100g (4 oz) chopped cranberries

50g (2 oz) chopped walnuts

1 egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

180ml fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

 

Preparation method

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4.

2. Grease a 23x12cm (9x5 in) loaf tin.

3. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a roomy mixing bowl. Add the cranberries and walnuts, and stir to coat with flour.

4. Mix together the egg, oil, orange juice and orange zest in a separate bowl.

5. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture, and stir until just blended. Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared loaf tin.

6. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted near the centre comes out clean. Cool in tin for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool down completely.

Optional

Drizzle with orange glace icing