Election Day Cake

What better recipe could I share with you today.  In case you have been in a cave for the past year, today is election day.  So make sure you go to the polls and cast your vote.  I don't know about you but I will be so glad when this election is over. 

Anyway I found this recipe in an email the other day.  There was a time when election day was celebrated.  And part of the celebration was Election Day Cakes.  The day was celebrated for the fact that we are able to elect people to represent us in our government.  Oh for the good ole days.  So bake up an election day cake and enjoy it while watching the returns. 

As you can see this cake didn't turn out really well.  I hope this is not a harbinger of things to come. If it is worth anything it taste really good.  I will explain in the recipe what I think happened and how to maybe fix it. 

Fresh cranberries, orange juice and pecans, some good stuff in this cake.

Start with 1/3 cup orange juice

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

2/3 cup buttermilk

6 Tablespoons butter.  We are going to melt it.

1 egg

The cooled melted butter.

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

Coarse chop the cranberries.  Now the cranberries seemed to stick to the bottom of the pan even though I sprayed it.  I think if I had used maybe a Tablespoon of the flour and tossed the cranberries in the flour before adding them to the batter they might not have sunk.

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Mix well.  Don't over mix.

Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Place in a preheated 375 oven.  Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes.  Cool in the loaf pan for about 10 minutes.  Then turn out and let cool.

Well this is what mine ended up looking like.  There was a glaze to put on it as well but I didn't bother.  But it does taste really good.

Election Day Cake Recipe
1/3 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
2/3 cup buttermilk
6 Tablespoons melted butter
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 375  Bake for 20 minutes then turn the oven to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes.
Remove from pan and let cool.

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest