Cranberry Swirl Cake

Whenever canned whole cranberry sauce is on sale, I stock up. I also keep an eye out for when sour cream goes on sale - the full fat variety only, if you please! And the reason I do these things is a certain cranberry cake recipe that a co-worker shared with me oh so many moons ago.

She's shared this recipe with other friends, but they've always come back and told her that theirs was good, but not as good as hers! After a while, she finally realized that she always made the cake with a large 16 oz. can of cranberry sauce rather than the 8 oz. can prescribed by the recipe. A ha!

Beginning with the holiday season 2009, I noticed that the large can of cranberry sauce had shrunk. :( Yup, it was down to 14 oz. per can. Fortunately it was still enough for this recipe, since my mom always thought that the cake was a bit too moist (or wet!) when I used the content of the entire can, but still... first it was the incredible shrinking ice cream, then the single serve yogurt cup... now this!

So here's the recipe my co-worker once found printed in a newspaper, and now cries out "Holidays!" to me in a loud delicious voice...

Cranberry Swirl Cake

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ pint sour cream (8 oz.)

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 large 16-ounce can of whole cranberry sauce

½ cup crushed nuts

Cream butter, add sugar gradually. Add unbeaten eggs (one at a time). Use mixer at medium speed.

Reduce mixer speed and add dry ingredients that have been sifted together, alternately with sour cream, ending with dry ingredients. Add almond extract.

Grease 8 inch tube pan. Put a layer of batter in bottom of pan, then swirl around some of the whole cranberry sauce. Add another layer of batter and more cranberry sauce. Add remaining batter and swirl the remaining cranberry sauce on top. Sprinkle nuts on top. Bake at 350F for 55 minutes.

Topping:

¾ cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon warm water

½ teaspoon almond flavoring

Dribble over top of cake after it is taken out of pan. Turn cake out of pan in about 5 minutes and frost while warm.

Vivian's Notes:

1) I omit the nuts because I don't usually have any around the house, as well as out of consideration of allergies.

2) For two 9-inch round cake pans, layering only twice each, bake for about 35 minutes.

3) For 2 large loaf pans, layering only twice each, bake for 40-42 minutes.