Professional ideas and methods
~ Use the spoon-and-level technique to measure the flour. Gently fluff up the flour with a spoon. Spoon the flour right into a measuring cup till it’s overfilled. Use the again of a knife to scrape throughout the highest of the measuring cup to stage it off. Don’t scoop straight into the flour and don’t pack the flour down into the measuring cup…this may lead to an excessive amount of flour and a dense cake.
~ Zest the orange earlier than juicing it. Watch out to solely zest the brilliant orange half. The white pith beneath is kind of bitter and we don’t need that.
~ Use contemporary cranberries or frozen cranberries. Don’t use dried cranberries.
~ If utilizing frozen cranberries, add them to the batter whereas nonetheless frozen. Don’t allow them to defrost.
~ Don’t over combine the batter. Combine simply till not white flour is seen. A couple of lumps are tremendous and anticipated.
~ Line the baking pan with parchment paper and permit the ends to overhang the edges of the pan. You should use these “handles” to raise out the cake after it’s baked to simply transfer it to a cooling rack. I prefer to flippantly spritz the underside of the baking dish with cooking spray earlier than inserting the parchment paper down. This helps the paper to remain in place if you’re smoothing out the batter.
~ Enable the contemporary cranberry cake to cool fully earlier than drizzling the non-obligatory orange glaze excessive.
