Christmas Spiced Cranberry, Orange and Carrot Bundt Cake

Christmas Spiced Cranberry, Orange and Carrot Bundt Cake by Chinskitchen

So many of us look forward to desserts after a delicious Christmas lunch, what will you be having? Mince pies?, Christmas pudding?, Yule log? so many options aren’t there. Well in our household unfortunately mince pies and christmas pudding don’t get much attention, instead they tend to hide behind other desserts.  Every year I tend to make a different cake incorporating the delicious Christmas spice such as cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg etc to get that warmth and Christmas feel. This Bundt cake consists of juicy cranberries bursting with tangy flavour, zesty orange and mellow carrots  married with warm cinnamon,clove and fiery ginger.  When baking this cake it actually does smell like Christmas in the house, the gorgeous aroma of fruits and spices will . A slice of this cake will definitely leave you wanting more especially with the gorgeous gooey white chocolate ganache smothering the cake.

All decorations in this cake are edible, the trees have been made out of green sugarpaste and small edible stars decorate the top of the tree. Mini orange matchmakers give a great twig effect and sprinkle of dried cranberries add a bit of colour. Why not serve this as part of your dessert this Christmas?

Christmas Spiced Cranberry, Orange and Carrot Bundt Cake

Serves:8-10
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
225g Butter at room temperature
115g Caster sugar
110g Light muscavado sugar
4 Large Eggs
1/2 Tsp Natural orange extract
255g Self raising flour
2 Pinches clove powder
1 Tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4 Tsp heaped ginger powder
30ml Milk
70g Fresh cranberries halved
30g Dried cranberries
Zest of 2 oranges
75g Grated carrot.

White Chocolate Ganache:
150ml Double cream
200g White Chocolate.

To decorate:
Christmas trees made of sugar paste or alternative Christmas decoration Orange match makers Icing sugar.

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 180 degree C or 160 C for fan assisted. Grease an 8″ Bundt pan. I tend to use Cake release spray by Dr Oetkar.
2.Firstly take a tablespoon of flour and sprinkle on cranberries both fresh and dried. This prevents the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
3.In your mixer or using a hand mixer cream butter and sugar until creamy, add the eggs and beat into a smooth mixture. If the mixture curdles then add a spoonful of flour and mix into a smooth batter.
4. Add the orange extract, fold in the flour and spices until all incorporated.
5. Pour the milk and stir in the orange zest, cranberries and carrots.
6. Spoon mixture into the prepared tin, tap the tin firmly several times to even out the batter before placing in the oven.
7. Bake the bundt cake for 45 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven, leave in tin for a couple of minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool.
9. To make the ganache, chop the white chocolate in a bowl, bring the cream to boil and pour over the white chocolate. Let is stand for 1 minute bore stirring, stir until all chocolate has melted and cream and chocolate have mixed well.
10. Place the ganache in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes just to thicken slightly to a consistency where you can pour but it sticks on the cake.
11. Once the cake is cooled, transfer to cake dish, pour the ganache over, decorate as you like and dust with icing sugar.

To serve, cut a chunky slice and serve, you can warm it up slightly before serving or eat it as it is. Let your senses loose with the combination of flavours in this cake. I am entering this cake to Alphabakes challenge hosted by Caroline at Caroline Makes and Ros at The more than occasional baker Baking addict, this month’s theme is “Xmas” and this definitely fits that criteria. For the first time I am also entering this to Four Seasons Food hosted by Anneli at Delicieux and Louisa at Eat Your Veg, this month’s theme is Party food and again this bundt cake would fit right in. Last but not least I am linking this to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Mark at Javelin Warrior as it is made from scratch.