Pumpkin Cranberry Cake Recipe

Cranberry Cake

Cranberry tart, Cranberry vinegar, Cranberry everything: there’s no cranberry food I dont adore. When fresh cranberries pile up, right around now, on produce stalls, I pounce on them.

The perfect Thanksgiving and autumn treat! Which reminds me: Take a look at my giant Thanksgiving Feast Menu and Recipes!

My Cranberry Cake is Wholesome!

It is the perfect showcase for my healthy baking. Cranberries, walnuts, pumpkin, oats: this is all wonderful food. And the flavor lineup is amazing. I always look for baked goods that, whenever possible, would double as real food, using unrefined sugars and whole grain flours, and sneaking in nuts, fruits and other goodies, so we can all enjoy them more often and offer them confidently to all around me.

Often my cakes, just like this cranberry cake, end up looking and tasting like quick breads, and benefit from the same ease of preparation: all aboard in one bowl. My sugars of choice are evaporated cane juice for white (unrefined, solid in spite of its name) and sucanat for brown (short for sugar cane natural), both widely available at health food stores. My flour of choice is spelt always: there is nothing I don’t do with it: Low gluten, high fiber, high protein, delicious taste: You can’t miss!

You will pleased to find cranberries, even out of season, quite often available in frozen foods sections of health food stores and better supermarkets. Likewise, I have no quarrel with canned pumpkin, provided it is 100% pure and natural, easy to find in health foods stores.

This is a nice large batter

The cake freezes beautifully, and so do the muffins.

You might also want to make muffins out of this cranberry cake batter: In this case make the baking time shorter: Start with 4o minutes, and check for doneness.

Dear Gluten-Free Friends

Substitute 3 cups Gluten-Free Flour + 1 teaspoon xanthan gum for the flour, and proceed with the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 cups sucanat or other unrefined sugar (health food stores: Don't try to reduce the amount: The cranberries are very tart)
• 2 cups canned pumpkin, unflavored (in other words: 100% pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling)
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup oil
• 1/4 cup apple or cranberry juice
• 3 cups flour: all purpose, whole wheat pastry or spelt (Gluten-free: Substitute 3 cups GF Flour + 1 teaspoon xanthan gum)
• 1 1/3 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, or pumpkin seeds
• 2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen, coarsely chopped in a food processor
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• Optional: 1 cup mini semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Instructions