When it’s my turn to make desserts, my go-to are usually pies, crisps and cobblers. For me, these desserts are much easier to prepare, probably because they are more formula driven than recipe driven like cakes. I’ll be honest - I rarely make cakes and if I do, they need to be foolproof and relatively simple. This is that kind of cake: just a few ingredients, and it doesn’t need to be frosted or filled. It can simply be served with whipped cream and fruit if you like.
This recipe yields a very rich finely textured cake with minimal effort. This tender yellow cake has an almost sugar cookie taste, tasty enough to skip my adornment and the flavor is especially well suited for Christmas.
For this Christmas cake recipe, I am including a lovely cranberry curd recipe to layer between the cake if you want to devote the extra effort. This cranberry curd is insanely good and worth the extra effort; it's both tart and rich and gives the cake a real Christmas-y look.
If you want to add more adornment without the extra work of making your own curd, you can buy a prepared curd at the market or use a good quality jam to layer. You might try a beautiful lemon curd or any other curd you can find. You can skip the curd altogether and use chocolate ganache, chocolate frosting or any good jam between the layers.
This recipe is unfrosted, simply sprinkled with powdered sugar on top but it can be frosted with buttercream or draped with ganache. This cake creates a single 9-inch cake but it can easily be doubled so that you can create more layers if you want to get fancy or have a larger crowd to feed.
Cranberry Curd Cake
Scroll down for a printable version of this recipe
Yield: One 9-inch cake
Notes times include making the curd:
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Inactive time: 6.5 hours
Total time: 8 hours
For the cake:
1/2 cup good quality salted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar, pulverized in the food processor
Heat the cranberries and juice on a sauce pan, just until the cranberries stop making a popping sound. Do not overcook the cranberries, this dulls their acidity and brightness of flavor.
Curd Step 2: Strain cranberries
Push the cooked cranberries through a fine sieve or food mill. If you have neither you can puree the mixture but it will create a slightly denser curd.
Curd Step 3: Cook curd
Return the strained cranberries to the pan and add the sugar, eggs, egg yolks, butter, vanilla and Cointreau. Over a medium high heat cook mixture stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 170 degrees. Turn off the heat and remove curd from the pan and place in an glass container and cover until completely cool.
I doubled this recipe to have extra around for the holidays, as the curd will last for several months.
Cake Step 1: Preheat oven and prepare cake pan
Turn oven on to preheat to 325 degrees convection or 350 in a standard oven.
Butter a 9-inch cake pan or springform pan. If you have parchment paper, I like to cut a 9-inch circle to fit in the bottom of the pan and then butter the top of the paper as an additional aid in releasing the cake from the pan. Since this is an unfrosted cake, you don’t want to butter and flour the pan since the flour will show on the exterior of the cake. You also really want to be careful and evenly butter the pan so the cake doesn’t stick. So ideally you want to butter the pan all over, place the parchment circle in the bottom of the pan, and butter the top of the paper.
Cake Step 2: Cream sugar and butter
Place the granulated sugar in the food processor and run until the sugar is as fine as you can get it. This step is unusual but the finely textured sugar really changes the texture of the cake and batter giving the overall cake a finer texture. Do not substitute powdered sugar for the this, it is too fine and also contains corn starch. I know it is unusual, but I really like salted butter both in this cake and in the cranberry curd. The extra salt really makes the flavor pop.
Cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer or stand mixer until slightly fluffy.
Add egg, egg yolks and vanilla and mix until completely combined.
Cake Step 3: Add dry ingredients and complete batter
Add flour, baking powder and salt to creamed ingredients and mix just until well combined. Make sure to scrape the bowl once during the mixing process.
Warm the 1 cup of milk in the microwave or on the stove just until it steams, do not bring to a boil.
Gradually add the milk to the creamed batter and mix on low speed until well combined. Do not mix more than is needed, overmixing toughens the cake.
Cake Step 4: Bake the Cake
Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and shake the pan gently to even out the batter in the pan. Place in preheated oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the cake just start to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Cool the pan for 15 minutes before removing the cake from the pan.
Remove cake from the pan by inverting onto a cooling rack or plate. Run a thin knife around the edge of the cake if it doesn’t just pop out of the pan easily. Remove the parchment paper circle and discard.
Cake Step 5: Cool and assemble
Let the cake completely cool. The cake is really best served the next day so feel free to cool overnight. The cake gets more tender if it can rest for at least 12 hours. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and you are done if you are not using the curd or filling the cake. But if you are...
Once the cake has cooled, use a bread knife to cut the cake in half horizontally. Dollop the curd in the center of the cake and spread gently to almost the edge of the cake. Leave about a 1/4-inch between the filling and the edge of the cake.
Once you put the top on the cake the weight of it will spread the filling to the edge. Sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar and serve.
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Heat the cranberries and juice on a sauce pan, just until the cranberries stop making a popping sound.
Push the cooked cranberries through a fine sieve or food mill.
Return the strained cranberries to the pan and add the sugar, eggs, egg yolks, butter, vanilla and Cointreau.
Over a medium high heat cook mixture stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 170 degrees.
Turn off the heat and remove curd from the pan and place in an glass container and cover until completely cool.
For the cake
Turn oven on to preheat to 325 degrees convection or 350 in a standard oven.
Butter a 9-inch cake pan or springform pan. If you have parchment paper, cut a 9-inch circle to fit in the bottom of the pan and then butter the top of the paper as an additional aid in releasing the cake from the pan.
Place the granulated sugar in the food processor and run until the sugar is as fine as you can get it.
Cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer or stand mixer until slightly fluffy.
Add egg, egg yolks and vanilla and mix until completely combined.
Add flour, baking powder and salt to creamed ingredients and mix just until well combined. Make sure to scrape the bowl once during the mixing process.
Warm the 1 cup of milk in the microwave or on the stove just until it steams, do not bring to a boil.
Gradually add the milk to the creamed batter and mix on low speed until well combined. Do not mix more than is needed, overmixing toughens the cake.
Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and shake the pan gently to even out the batter in the pan.
Place in preheated oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the cake just start to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Cool the pan for 15 minutes before removing the cake from the pan.
Remove cake from the pan by inverting onto a cooling rack or plate. Run a thin knife around the edge of the cake if it doesn’t just pop out of the pan easily. Remove the parchment paper circle and discard.
Let the cake completely cool. The cake is really best served the next day so feel free to cool overnight.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Once the cake has cooled, use a bread knife to cut the cake in half horizontally. Dollop the curd in the center of the cake and spread gently to almost the edge of the cake. Leave about a 1/4-inch between the filling and the edge of the cake.
Once you put the top on the cake the weight of it will spread the filling to the edge. Sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar and serve.