This cranberry pecan cake is a great example of why dried fruit and nuts works so well together. With the tang from the cranberries and the texture and earthiness from the pecans balance out the sweetness of this cake so well.
What are Pecans?
Pecans, are a tree species from the hickory family, grow primarily in northern Mexico and the southern United States. These regions provide the ideal climate and soil conditions for their cultivation.
The pecan nuts that we find in stores are actually the edible seeds that come from these trees, which produce them inside hard protective shells.
According to webmd.com pecans contain lots of beneficial vitamins and minerals.
These include, vitamins A and E, zinc, magnesium, iron and calcium just to name a few.
They are also low in carbohydrates and high in fibre. Making them a great low sugar snack. But be careful not to eat too many or that high fibre will give you some discomfort.
But all in all pecans are a great nut to keep stocked in your pantry.
Fresh or dried cranberries?
For this recipes I will be using dried cranberries. This is because they are readily available all year round unlike their fresh counterparts that tend to only be around seasonally.
You can swap out the dried for the fresh in this recipe. It will affect the texture and sweetness a bit but not so much so that it doesn’t work really well.
The dried cranberries tend to be chewier and sweeter. Like many dried fruit they are higher in sugar and calories than the fresh. But like I said you are more likely to find dried cranberries than you are fresh.
Fresh cranberries do have a lot more tang, especially when they are eaten raw. Not something I tend to recommend personally. You will usually find fresh cranberries during the winter. We have large cranberry fields near us that are harvested around the end of autumn/fall time.
Personally I prefer using the fresh berries if they are available, but dried are a great choice if that is all you have to hand.
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Tools needed for the cranberry pecan cake
- Mixing bowl, or a stand mixer, I love having a stand mixer it has to be one of my most used tools in the kitchen.
- Spatula/ wooden spoon, you need to be able to beat your batter with this if you don’t have a mixer and also scrape out the bowl efficiently too.
- 8 inch cake tin, or loaf tin. Either type if tin will work for this cake.
- Parchment paper, use this to line your cake tin. A great tip to make it fit is to crumple up the paper and damp it down with water. It is crazy but this totally works.
Ingredients for cranberry pecan cake
- All purpose white flour.
- White granulated sugar. If you have a natural cane sugar that would be ideal.
- Salted butter. You can use unsalted too if you prefer. I tend to swap back and forward between the two.
- Eggs. Large free range eggs
- Dried cranberries. You can use fresh if they are in season.
- Pecan halves. They are easy to crush into pieces with your hands.
- Orange juice. This will help to balance out the flavour of the cranberries.
- Milk. Any will work for this recipe, cow or nut milks too.
- Vanilla extract. Try to use real and not imitation.
- Baking powder
How to make a cranberry pecan cake
Preheat your oven to 375F convection, 190C fan.
Prep
To begin with you need to cream together the butter and sugar. Use the paddle attachment of a stand mixer or the beaters of a hand mixer, or with a wooden spoon. Beat them until they are light and fluffy fully incorporated together.
Now add in your eggs and vanilla and beat these into the sugar and butter.
Into a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix them together well.
In a jug add together the milk and orange juice.
Now alternating add in a little flour and mix, then a little milk orange mixture and mix. Keep alternating these until they are all used up. You do not need to over beat the batter at this point just use slow speeds. You should now have a thick cake batter.
Finally add in the cranberries and pecans and give it one last good mix. The fruit and nuts should be evenly dispersed throughout the batter.
Line your baking tin with the parchment paper. Pour in your cake batter. Optionally you can decorate the top with some pecan halves, although I prefer to do this at the end.
Bake
Place the tin into the preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. Or until it is fully cooked, You can use a skewer to test it is done. Stick the skewer carefully into the centre of the cake if it comes out clean then it is done. Tip, test it in a couple of places.
Remove the tin from the oven and leave it to cool for 5 minutes before removing the cake carefully and placing onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
To finish the cake off and make it look a little special give the top a light dusting of icing sugar. I also like to add a few pecan halves to the centre top.
This cranberry pecan cake is best served fresh but it can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
Don’t forget to leave me a comment letting me know how you liked this cake recipe. I would love to hear from you.
Cranberry Pecan Cake
Cranberries and pecan make a wonderful pairing. This lovely moist cake has the perfect balance of sweet, tangy and texture.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (60g) salted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 2 Cups (310g) All purpose plain white flour
- 1 tbsp Baking powder
- 1/4 cup (60ml) Orange juice
- 1/4 (60ml) Cup milk, (any will work)
- 1/2 cup (50g) Pecans
- scant 1 Cup (120g) dried cranberries, see note.
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375F, 190C fan
- Cream together the butter and sugar. Use the paddle attachment of a stand mixer or the beaters of a hand mixer, or with a wooden spoon. Beat them until they are light and fluffy fully incorporated together.
- Add in your eggs and vanilla and beat these into the sugar and butter.
- Into a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix them together well.
- In a jug add together the milk and orange juice.
- Now alternating add in a little flour and mix, then a little milk orange mixture and mix. Keep alternating these until they are all used up. You do not need to over beat the batter at this point just use slow speeds. You should now have a thick cake batter.
- Finally add in the cranberries and pecans and give it one last good mix. The fruit and nuts should be evenly dispersed throughout the batter.
- Line your baking tin with the parchment paper. Pour in your cake batter.
- Place the tin into the preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. Or until it is fully cooked, You can use a skewer to test it is done. Stick the skewer carefully into the centre of the cake if it comes out clean then it is done.
- Remove the tin from the oven and leave it to cool for 5 minutes before removing the cake carefully and placing onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
This cranberry pecan cake is best served fresh but it can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
Notes
- You can use fresh cranberries in place of the dried. It will alter the flavour slightly but the fresh do works well. Roughly chop 1 1/2 cups worth in place of the dried. Also they will weigh more, around 330g.
- You can add extra pecans to the top before baking as decoration. Although I prefer to dust it with icing at the end and add a few pecans to the top.
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