Cranberry Orange Pecan Loaf Cake

Cranberry Orange Pecan Loaf Cake. I had some fresh cranberries leftover from Thanksgiving and wanted to make some type of cake with them, I made a Cranberry Cobbler years ago but wanted something different, so here we are. This is such a great cake! I adapted the recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction and made a few changes. For one, I melted the butter for the streusel, a lot of recipes say to use cold butter and crumble it into the flour and sugar, but sometimes I end up with flour that’s not quite mixed in with the butter after it’s done, I find it’s easier and more reliable to just add the sugar, spice and flour to melted butter. Also instead of buttermilk I used a mixture of greek yogurt and milk, and I added some Pecans to the recipe.

My baking time was a lot different than the 45 minutes to an hour suggested in the original recipe, it may have been due to the pan I used, a cast iron loaf pan, but in any case the total bake time for me was 1 hour and 20 minutes! It didn’t seem quite done after an hour so I took the temperature and let it go longer until it reached 200°. That worked! It’s a great cake, enjoy!

Oh and be careful out there friends, Covid-19 cases are going through the roof! We’re so close to getting a vaccine, it’s not that much longer, do your best to stay safe for you, your family, your neighbors, friends, we’re all in this together! 

Cranberry Orange Pecan Loaf Cake

Streusel

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3 Tablespoons salted butter, melted

Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 large egg

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 2/3 cup milk

• 1/3 cup greek yogurt

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil 

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 2 teaspoons orange zest (about 1 orange zested)

• 1 cup fresh cranberries (more for topping)

• 1/2 cup crushed pecans (more for topping)

Glaze

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• 1 Tablespoon orange juice

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with butter, line with parchment paper and butter that as well.

Make the streusel: Whisk the flour, sugar, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until combined. Set aside.

Make the cake: Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. 

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until combined. Whisk in the milk, yogurt, oil, vanilla, and orange zest. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then fold with a rubber spatula to completely combine. Fold in the cranberries and Pecans.

Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan. Scatter the streusel on top, add a few cranberries and crushed pecans. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 25-45 minutes. Cake is done when cake tester or toothpick comes out clean (or at 200° temp, I started using a thermometer because sometimes it comes out clean and it’s not bake all the way through!)

Cool bread completely in the pan set on a wire rack. Then remove using your “parchment handles” onto serving plate or board.

The glaze! In a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar and orange juice together. Drizzle over cooled bread.

Slice and serve. Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for 1 day or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Zucchini Nut Bread

Zucchini Nut Bread. I didn’t expect to make this so soon. Our zucchini plant is growing so quickly now and producing more than we anticipated. We’ve picked 4 zucchini in the past week and more are on the way. This is the first time we’ve grown it so I didn’t know what to expect. Last year I planted a yellow squash and that didn’t work out, all male blossoms and no squash. But we did some changes to our soil this year and it’s made a big difference. I’m not sure if I posted about this but we removed all our old soil in the garden beds (which was potting soil) and replaced it with a proper soil/compost mix and everything is growing great! The weather has been unusually mild so far this July, seriously rain in Portland in July? Almost unheard of. So it’s been more like a longer spring season. Which is ok with me, and the grass, but I think those tomatoes would appreciate a bit more heat. The weather forecast for this week is in the 70s!? Yep. Weird. 

The recipe is adapted from Sally’s Baking addiction and it’s good! It has lots of cinnamon which I love. I almost wish it had more zucchini in it. I’ll add more next time because I’m certain there will be a next time with all this zucchini, and I’ll update on this post. The original recipe added chocolate chips, but I didn’t really want that for this bread (cake!) so I added what nuts I had on hand, about 1/4 cup pistachios and 1/4 cup crushed hazelnuts. This Zucchini Bread is light in texture, and I kinda wish it were a bit more dense, I’ll experiment some more and let you know how it works out. 

It’s super delicious, easy to make and I’m sure you will enjoy this recipe.

Zucchini Nut Bread

• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1 cup chopped nuts 

• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

• 1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1 large egg, at room temperature

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup grated zucchini (about 1 medium)

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9×5” loaf pan lined with parchment paper with butter.

In a large bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together then stir in the nuts. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, vanilla, and zucchini together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently combine with a wooden spoon; do not over mix. Spread the batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 – 55 minutes. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and set on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for up to 5 days (I’m not sure I would leave it out this long, and I’m not sure it wouldn’t get eaten in 5 days!)

Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction