Cranberry, Orange Zest & Crystallized Ginger Cakes

This post is quite overdue, but if you can still find fresh cranberries, please make these Cranberry, Orange Zest & Crystallized Ginger Cakes!

Right before Thanksgiving, I saw a beautiful recipe for Fresh Cranberry Tea Cakes on Liren's Kitchen Confidante blog and knew I had to do something like that. But of course I had to change a few things: I added orange zest and crystallized ginger (thanks Anna for the ginger suggestion) and also made the recipe into mini cakes using a muffin tin.

Cranberry, Orange Zest & Crystallized Ginger Cakes
Adapted from Kitchen Confidante

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter
1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups halved fresh cranberries
zest of one orange
2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper cups. {I made 12 "muffins" but they totally overflowed, so you should do 18-24 cakes!}


2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Incorporate vanilla, egg and buttermilk.

4. Add the flour mixture into the wet mixture and fold in the cranberries, orange zest and crystallized ginger.

5. Fill the muffin tins and bake for 20-30 minutes until the cakes are set {you can test them with a toothpick and make sure the toothpick comes out dry.}

This is what happens when you overfill the muffin form!! UGH. Good thing they still tasted amazing ;)

These cakes were great: a combination of tart cranberries, fresh orange zest and a bit of a bite from the crystallized ginger. They can be served as dessert or eaten for breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee.

I bet they would freeze well too, but after pigging out on them and sharing some with my friend Cindy and her family, I had none to freeze.

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates!!!