Well… we made a good dent in it
last night… Unable to resist, slices for breakfast.
Full of cranberries, it is a cross between a robust
cake and a glorified loaf. Not a bread to be sure; this is too rich and much too refined to be a
fruit bread. The almond extract plays an essential part as it pairs brilliantly with
the cranberries. Making the loaf with fresh cranberries would be quite
straightforward, though I found it a bit challenging with frozen berries. Once
you add the frozen berries, prepare to pack the batter into the parchment lined pan
right of way, as the frozen berries will quickly freeze the batter into a
clump. Baking time will have to be increased substantially. I kept adding the minutes before the loaf finally baked
through. You may opt to partially thaw the berries first, but I didn’t want
streaks of cranberry juice in my loaf. In the end it was fine except I lost
track of the time the loaf took to bake. It is a beautiful,
buttery, moist loaf and requires no embellishment or butter. Just cut
a slice and enjoy!
FRESH CRANBERRY LOAF
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups sugar
3⁄4 cup butter, very soft
2 tsp pure almond extract
1/2 tsp baking soda.
2 cups flour
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries*
*Be sure to read the write up if
using frozen berries.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease the corners of the pan.
- Beat the eggs and the sugar for 3-4 minutes until smooth and thickened.
- Add the soft butter, the almond extract and the baking soda.
- Beat until very fluffy.
- Stir in flour and fully incorporate.
- Stir in cranberries.
- Quickly transfer to the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until the cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. It will take considerably longer with frozen berries.
- Let the loaf cool to lukewarm before slicing.
