You can always tell Christmas is close when the supermarkets start selling fresh cranberries!

I love making homemade sauce for our Christmas dinner, but I also like using fresh cranberries for baking.

Our holiday food magazine (out this Thursday) has a delightful recipe for a sparkling cranberry cake, which soaks the cranberries in simple syrup overnight before dusting them in sugar.

They are a very tart berry, that’s for sure. You usually need to pair cranberries with a sweet, light flavour to help tone things down.

This cranberry and clementine crumb cake can be enjoyed for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. \ Janine Kennedy

A classic pairing is orange - the bright citrus flavour brings a good balance to the tartness of the cranberries. I also love pairing cranberries with almond.

This recipe combines all of those flavours. It’s a dense cake with a sweet crumb topping - almost muffin-like in texture.

It only uses a small amount of sugar, making it ideal for a breakfast or brunch offering, as well as the standard afternoon tea snack.

The cranberries are balanced out with a dash of almond flavouring and the juice and rind from a sweet clementine.

Cranberry and clementine crumb cake

This cranberry and clementine crumb cake can be enjoyed for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. \ Janine Kennedy

Serves 8-12

Ingredients:

For the cake:

60g softened butter

200g caster sugar

1 egg

1tsp almond extract

1tsp vanilla extract

250g plain flour

2tsp baking powder

1/2tsp salt

1tsp cinnamon (optional)

200ml buttermilk

Juice and rind from one clementine

300g fresh cranberries

For the crumb topping:

40g softened butter

60g light brown sugar

60g plain flour

Directions:

  • 1. Grease and line a springform pan with parchment. Set aside and preheat the oven to 180°C.

  • 2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract until light and ribbony.
  • 3. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix slightly, then add the buttermilk and clementine rind/juice. Mix until just combined.
  • 4. Add the cranberries and gently fold into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
  • 5. Make the crumb topping: in a bowl, combine the butter, flour and brown sugar. Using your fingers, rub the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Gently sprinkle the mixture over the top of the cake batter.

    • This cranberry and clementine crumb cake can be enjoyed for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. \ Janine Kennedy

  • 6. Place the cake into the preheated oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean. The cake should be golden brown all over.
  • 7. Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then remove from the springform tin and cool completely on a wire rack.
  • 8. Serve that day, or keep in an airtight container for up to five days.