A Loaf Cake Gone Festive

With it being glove-and-scarf-weather and all, I thought that making a seasonal loaf cake might be nice to nibble with a morning/afternoon coffee. Having made my first cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving, I immediately fell in love with the cranberry-orange combination and thought that would translate perfectly into my festive loaf. I cracked open a bag of frozen cranberries (its a pain to get fresh ones round here... total opposite to my home town in Massachusetts) and went to work.

Cranberry Loaf Cake with Orange Drizzle

For the cake
225g butter (softened)
125g soft brown sugar
125g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
225g self raising flour
Handful of fresh or frozen cranberries
Zest of half an orange

For the drizzle
4 tbsp caster sugar
Zest of half an orange
Juice from said orange
Squirt of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Zest half of your orange and if you're using frozen cranberries, make sure they're out of the freezer. Creme together your butter and sugars with a wooden spoon. Once its all combined, beat in the eggs 1 at a time.

Add half of the flour and start to carefully fold it in with a spatula. Add the cranberries and orange zest and fold in the rest of your flour. Once its all combined, pour into the loaf tin. Put in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, or when skewer inserted comes out clean.

While the loaf bakes, make the drizzle by combining the sugar, juices, and zest. While cake is still hot out the oven, poke holes all throughout the cake with a toothpick and pour drizzle over cake- make sure to cover the whole cake and pour some down the sides. Leave to let rest in tin and flip out when cooled.

And voilà, a delicious tangy, sweet, and fruity loaf.