Cranberry Orange Olive Oil Cake

Here is one of our all-time favorites with a holiday season twist.
Fresh orange zest and juice work best, but use what you have!

Ingredients

·        3 heavy tbsp freshly grated orange zest

·        1 1/2 cups white sugar

·        2 3/4 cups flour

·        1 teaspoon baking powder

·        1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·        1/2 teaspoon salt

·        12 ounces cranberries (fresh or frozen, we prefer fresh)

·        3 large eggs room temperature

·        1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

·        1 cup Grove 45 Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Instructions

1.                Preheat oven to 350.

2.                Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside

3.                In a small bowl, combine orange zest with sugar and mix well. 

4.                Beat the eggs together with the sugar and zest.  Beat for a 2-3 minutes and then slowly pour in the orange juice and then the Grove 45 olive oil.

5.               Sowly add in the flour mixture,  leave behind about 1/4 cup of the flour.  Add the cranberries to this 1/4 cup of flour and toss to coat.  Once the flour in the mixing bowl has been well incorporated with the wet ingredients, add in the flour coated cranberries.  Mix only until incorporated; do not over mix because doing so might crush your cranberries.  Alternatively, you can add and mix in the cranberries by hand using a rubber spatula.

6.                Grease a cake or muffin pan with cooking spray or vegetable oil.  Pour in the batter and then use a knife to swirl the batter a bit, in order to help distribute the cranberries.

7.                Bake on the middle rack of your oven for approximately 60 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool almost completely before removing it from the pan.