Lime Cranberry Pound Cake

The weather is getting colder day by day , last night I could hear that the heating system was automatically (when we go for sleep we regulate the degrees and if the living get colder then it goes on) going on as it must have been so cold in the night.

Not that I can complain as I am tucked comfortably in the warm bed.

But I am a light sleeper and when the heating systme goes on it make a kind of noise.

Any way Hans had to go for a rehersal so we got up early, well early to our standard and if i write them time here you all will say that is early for you my god by the time Finla you are awake half of my work is done :-) )

So was just awake and I was walking to the kitchen when I heard the phone rings and It is my sis in India, and

I tell Hello and

sis say Guess what I am making ,

Me You are baking your christmas cake

Sis , No I am making Kalkus ( it is a sweet made with flour, egg, and fried and then coated with sugar syrup etc...then she says after this I am aslo going to make Diamond cuts, yet another sweet which is made in kerala during the holidays.

I ofcourse so Jealous wish i could make all these things , I want to, but I can't as no body is going to eat them and I will be the one ending up eating all this sweet things.

Now this conversation has nothing to do with this recipe which I am posting but I just wanted to give how my daily life, is, one sis rings me to say what she is making, then the other sis and I when we talk to each other what do we talk about baking, dishes we are making, or what we are going to make :-)

One of the first baking website love even before I started my blog is Joy of Baking, I know if you love baking you won't be a stranger to this site.

I think the whole word knows about it as it is so good, I have made so many bakes from there and it always comes out perfect.

And this Lemon Cranberry Pound Cake was no different too.

I have made this cake so many times but I have never blogged about it, and this time too I was not planning to blog hence no step by step picture, but then as it was looking so christmasy I thought why not.

I don't have a pciture of slices as I made this for last sunday and as usual on sundays I take my bakes to my in laws place for afternoon coffee. And every time I take my bakes there there is always a slice or two cut because I do that for taking pics for the blog, but this time I thoguht I will take it in one piece :-)

It is such a easy cake to make and really moist and so delicious.

I did some  variation which I have noted in different color

Do check the original post as there is lots of tips for making this cake.



Ingridients.

For the cranberries:

 1/3 cup (80 ml) Lemon juice ( I used Lime)
2 tbsp brandy ( Used 4 tbsp )
1 cup ( 115 gm dried cranberries) ( I used 160 gm)

In the recipe it was written to add above indridients in a pan and boil etc, but what I did was put all the above ingridients in a glass bowl , and whacked in the MW for 2 to 3  minute and then drained it and let it cool down, keep the drained liquid

Do this step first before you start with your cake mix.

 Pound Cake:

3 1/2 cup ( 455 gms ) all purpouse flour
1/2 tsp ( 2 gms) baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup ( 227 gms ) unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups ( 600 gm ) granulated white sugar ( I used only 300 gm as my family don't like the cake to be sweet plus I added more sugar for making the thick frosting)6 large eggs
2 tbsp lemon zest ( I used Lime)
1/2 tbsp of pure vanilla extract
1 cup (240 gms) sour cream or youghurt ( I used sour cream)

 Lime frosting optional ( I did)

I am writting down what frosting I did as the original one had a lighter frosting and no liqueur

200 to 250 gm of powdered or  icing sugar
Few table spoon egg white ( if you don't like to use fresh eggs you can use egg white powder, i use the egg white as then the icing gets hard)
Few tbsp of Orange ligueur ( I used Manadrin Napoleon)

 For Pound Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Butter and flour (or spray with a vegetable oil and flour spray) a 10 inch (25 cm) bundt pan. If using a dark colored pan, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

 In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add lime zest, vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

With mixer on low, add 1/3 of flour mixture, alternating with the sour cream, about 1/2 cup at a time, beating just until batter is smooth. (You will have three additions of flour and two of the sour cream.) Stir in the drained cranberries.

Pour batter into bundt pan and smooth the top. Bake for approximately 60 - 75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Let cool 5 minutes and then lightly brush the top of the cake with half of the reserved cranberry liquid. After 10 more minutes loosen sides of pan with a sharp knife and invert onto a wire rack. Immediately brush the top and sides of the cake with the remaining cranberry liquid.

Cool the cake completely before frosting

Frosting:

 In a bowl, combine the sifted confectioners sugar, table spoons of egg whites ( add first 2 tbsp of egg white and then if you want more add more) with the orange liqueur .
I wanted to have a real thick frosting than in the recipe.

Spoon the frosting over the top of the cake, allowing the icing to drip down the sides.

I also decorated with some extra cranberries on top too.
Let the icing dry before covering and storing.

This cake can be frozen. However, if freezing, do not cover with the lemon frosting