We love cranberries - I make cranberry apple relish in quantities to eat all year, not just Thanksgiving. I make fresh cranberry salad, I put craisins in just about everything I make. So, running across a Facebook recipe for Cranberry Cake was pretty much a no-brainer.
I try a lot of recipes, most of them do not make the cut. But this one? Oh yeah, this goes into the files to make again and again and again. The presence of the whole cranberries makes each bite a little explosion of tartness against the sweet cake - so if you are not insane for cranberries, you might want to chop them up.
Cranberry Christmas Cake
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
12 oz fresh cranberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar until slightly thickened and light in color, about 5-7 minutes. The mixture should almost double in size. The eggs work as your leavening agent in this recipe, so do not skip this step. This mixture should form a ribbon when you lift the beaters out of the bowl. Add the butter and vanilla; mix two more minutes. Stir in the flour until just combined. Add the cranberries and stir to mix throughout. Spread in a buttered 9x13 pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan at least 20 minutes before cutting.