Yogurt Bundt Cake with Orange & Cranberries

I believe life always tastes sweeter with little touch of a cake; well may be not for your health but definitely for your soul! Though I’m not a dessert lover, sometimes it feels good to find teeny weeny pieces of cakes in my kitchen cupboard or refrigerator. Generally, I have these kinds of sugar rushes during middle of the week which I call my ‘mid-week crisis’! I try to bake small sized cakes or cookies around Tuesday or Wednesday to control my sweet craving once in a while. I also try to blend ‘healthy’ ingredients with others to keep my brain mum and pretend to have a ‘healthy’ cake! Similar story goes with my latest bake Yogurt Bundt Cake with Orange & Cranberries. It has good amount of yogurt and loads of cranberries to lure you (actually it’s me) away.

Since I’ve started blogging (2 years now!) I hardly leave kitchen and my oven whenever I’m alone in home. It has become one of my precious hobbies. You guys remember ‘My Precious!’ from ‘Lord of the Ring’ series? Yeah it is that kind of precious’ to me. I have a real long excel sheet in both my laptop and mobile named ‘wishlist’ where I keep adding items which I want to try at home. And whenever I have some time to cook/bake for blogging I open that list first. Recently I noticed my dessert column is too long in comparison with others and it has no names at all which I had even tried once. Not to mention my not-so-love for dessert isn’t the only culprit for that. The ‘act of blogging’ also crowned me with pile of mass; for which I’m working my ass out daily. And I have a sense which tells me ‘do-not-eat-dessert-you-fat-ass’. So no desserts for me (weep weep)!

This yesterday I had nothing to do literally and was wondering if I could have a little bite of a cake! Now who can deny that an ‘Empty mind is always devil’s workshop’! After scanning my ‘excel sheet’ I finalized a yogurt cake to work with. But only yogurt cake is not happening to me; so I mixed cranberries and later I added some orange peels too. Ummm, now that’s what I’m talking about! It’s fresh, fragrant and sweet; honestly it smells Christmas to me!

Here is my elaborate step by step Yogurt Bundt Cake with Orange & Cranberries recipe for you all.

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking/Active Time: 50 mins

Resting/Inactive time: 10 mins

Total Time: 70 mins

Yield: 12-15 servings

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

All-purpose flour: 320g or 2½ cup + 1 tbsp (for dusting)

Baking powder: 1½ tsp

Sugar: 300g or 1½ cup, powdered (See Tips)

Butter: 200g or 1 cup + 1 tbsp (for greasing) (See Tips)

Greek yogurt: 400g Or, Sour cream: ½ cup (See Tips)

Vanilla extract: 2 tsp

Egg: 5, large

Cranberries: 2/3 cup

Orange zest: 1½ tbsp

For Ganache:

White chocolate: 150g, chopped

Cream: 150ml (half & half cream/heavy cream or any dairy free cream will also work fine)

Garnishing:

Glazed cherry: handful

Orange peel: handful

Equipment:

Sieve

Whisk

Spatulas

Ziploc bag

Electric beater

Large mixing bowl

Small mixing bowl

12” Bundt pan

Small saucepan

Preparation:

Before starting the prep work, you should keep one thing in mind that this is a delicious cake with quite a lengthy process. So you have to be patient and organized; otherwise entire hard work will end up in a big fat mess. And also make sure all ingredients are at room temperature (unless mentioned) and measured correctly in appropriate measuring instruments.

Extract the orange zest from a fresh orange; coat the cranberries in 1 tbsp of flour well. (See Tips)

In a large bowl sieve and sift all dry ingredients (flour & baking powder) together. Repeat the process one more time. Keep aside until needed.

Cream butter (reserve 1 tbsp) and sugar together with electric beater until become fluffy and pale in color.

Add eggs one by one (one at time) and continue beating. Take care not to overbeat.

Add orange peel and vanilla extract and mix very gently without disturbing the aeration. Mix 1/3rd portion of the flour mixture into the batter and gently fold with a rubber spatula. When there will be no visibility of flour pour ½ of the lightly beaten yogurt or sour cream into the batter and continue mixing in the same manner. Make sure there are no lumps at all. (See Tips)

Repeat the process until all flour and yogurt are incorporated nicely with the batter.

Add the flour coated cranberries into the batter and fold gently.

Grease the pan with softened butter and dust the same with reserved flour. Tap off the excess flour. (See Tips)

Fill 2/3 of the pan with the cake batter and tap the pan few times on the kitchen counter. (See Tips)

This cake will be huge so it needs to be baked for longer period on low temperature. It will ensure a nice evenly baked cake without burning the top or sides. First bake the cake in preheated (170⁰C) oven for 40-50 mins at 160⁰C; then, lower the temperature to 140⁰Cand bake for another 15-20 mins (depending on your oven) or until a skewer comes out with clean crumbs when inserted in the middle of the cake. (See Tips)

Remove the cake from oven and set on wire rack to cool down. Once it is easy to handle, tap the pan on the kitchen counter for few times gently to loosen up the sides of the cake. Now allow the cake to rest on wire rack until cool completely. Once cake comes to room temperature, invert the pan on a large palate and remove the pan carefully. (See Tips)

For the Ganache Heat on low flame until cream is warm, add chopped chocolate and fold gently until chocolate melts & blends completely. (See Tips)

Pour the ganache on top of the cake and leave it for few minutes to set. (See Tips)

Finally arrange the orange peels and glazed cherries on the top and décor according to your personal preference to finish the cake. (See Tips)

Nutrition facts of Yogurt Orange Cake with Cranberries

Yogurt Bundt Cake with Orange & Cranberries is all set to go. Make sure to dip the knife in warm water just before slicing the cake and serve immediately. Thus ganache will be intact with the slices. This cake is huge and perfectly capable to satisfy 10-12 persons. Excess cake can be refrigerated in airtight container. Taste will be good upto 6-7 days.

Tips:

1. It is okay to add little less sugar than the specified measurement but never add more. If you add less sugar your cake will be puffy and yes little less sweet but that will hardly make any differences if you are having perfect spongy cake. But more sugar not only spoil the taste it will also produce sloggy and lumpy cake.

2. I always use regular salted butter but my mother never use salted version.

3. Regular yogurt or sour cream adds a tangy flavor to the all-sweet cake and makes the cake super moist. Any other flavored yogurt or dairy free yogurt will also work fine.

4. This flour coating will help to hold the fruit’s position in the batter while baking. Otherwise the fruits will sink at the bottom of the pan.

5. Don’t overbeat the butter & sugar. This will yield grainy texture and cake won’t be as fluffy as expected.

6. Don’t pour the flour and yogurt together it will be hard to mix and also mixture will turn into a lumpy form. It is preferable to maintain the ratio for a smoother result.

7. Greasing and dusting the baking pan will make sure that cake won’t stick to it while baking.

8. Tapping the baking pan with mixture will help to release air bubbles from inside the batter, if any forms. And the batter will be spread evenly in the pan.

9. Keep checking after initial time specified. It may take 10-15 mins more depending on your oven.

10. Sometimes top of the cake gets the perfect brown color but inside still remains jiggy. Don’t worry about it. Cover the top with a heavy duty foil and continue baking for 10-15 mins more. This will prevent the top from over baking or burning while inside of the cake will continue to bake.

11. Don’t touch or try to cut the cake while it is hot. It is damn fragile now. Allow it to cool. Once it is cooled it will be firm.

12. Keep the ganache in clean & dry glass bowl and cover it with cling film until needed. Remember, less air contact means better taste.

13. If you are not in hurry it is advisable to refrigerate the cake for 1 hr. It will help to set the entire cake.

14. First allow to set the ganache then go for more garnishing.