Cranberry Almond Pound Cake

For as long as I can remember, I've had a love affair with desserts that are flavored with almond.   It might be my German roots, but I have a particular weakness fondness for marzipan.  Whenever I see a recipe that pairs cherries and almond, I usually bookmark it for when that almond craving hits.  I also learned to appreciate that cranberries and almond are another tasty combination, when I found a family favorite recipe for Cranberry-Almond Granola.

Shortly after Christmas, I had set aside the remaining half of a bar of almond paste that I used to make an Easy German Stollen-- I was waiting for an excuse to use it.  I had  good fortune, when one of my favorite blogs that I follow, "2 Stews",  posted a recipe for a Cranberry Almond Pound Cake.   As I began to read the ingredients list, I was pleased to know that I had frozen cranberries (I always keep a few bags of fresh cranberries in our freezer, since they're a seasonal item).  I also saw that this recipe uses Amaretto liqueur, which is a staple in my pantry.   I started to feel my pulse race, when I saw that sour cream is used in the batter, because I love the subtle tang and moisture that it gives to cake recipes. I could almost taste a winning combination of ingredients, and I made the decision to shut down my laptop and bake this-- pronto!  I had everything I needed:

(A printable recipe is at the bottom of this post.)  I measured unbleached all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder.

The first step I took was to measure 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and 2 Tablespoons Amaretto. I heated the Amaretto and dried cranberries in a small saucepan. I let it cool, stirring occasionally, until the fruit has soaked up all of the liquid.

NOTE: The original recipe says to do this 2 hours in advance, I found that the cranberries cooled quite well, in the 20 minutes it took to prepare the cake batter:

Preheat the oven to 325F and prepare your pan with Baker's Joy Non-Stick Spray. Of course you can use good old flour and shortening, but I've never had a bundt cake disaster, ever since I stocked up on this fantastic baking product.

Next: Using my food processor (or you can use a mixer and paddle), I combined the  almond paste, almond extract and sugar until the mixture looked like wet sand.  I like to use LorAnn Almond Bakery Emulsion, because the flavors aren't lost in the baking.  (I also use LorAnn Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor in most of my cakes... I love them!) Of course, you can use pure almond oil-- and if you don't like almond, then use vanilla.

For the batter: Add softened unsalted butter and  mix at medium speed until very fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl with rubber spatula. Add the eggs, one by one, beating until blended. On low speed add ⅓ dry ingredients and ⅓ sour cream; scrape bowl with a spatula. Repeat twice more. Finally beat for 20 seconds, until smooth. 

 Fold in all berries. Fold the batter into prepared pan. Level the top with spatula and tap pan gently to evenly distribute batter into the pan.

 I found that I had extra batter, so I made two small tea loaves, to give to friends.

There is a glaze recipe, but I decided to simply use powdered sugar. 

I toted this cake off to the cooking class that I taught-- sort of an "Amuse Bouche" intro to my students... well, I also didn't want to be tempted to eat more than a slice, as I've lost 20 pounds and plan to keep it that way!

TASTING NOTES:   This is an easy recipe, though there are a couple of steps in hydrating the dried cranberries with the Amaretto and making the almond paste-sugar.  The batter comes together very quickly.
The cake is very moist, and just a little dense-- but not over-the-top.  The flavor of the almonds, I think, could be increased by adding more almond extract. But remember, I'm a lover of anything almond.  I think dried cherries could be used, or really any kind of fruit.  Would I make this again? You bet! My family and friends approved of this recipe. I think you will, too.

Like most of you, I subscribe to a lot of foodie magazines, and I buy more than my fair share of cookbooks. I just love it when I find a recipe that a fellow food blogger has shared, and it delivers as promised.  Thanks, 2 Stews, for sharing this delectable cake!