Cranberry Almond Coffee Cake

We always have leftover cranberry sauce floating around after Thanksgiving, even after all the turkey has been eaten. This coffee cake is a great way to get rid of your extra cranberry sauce. It has a strong almond flavor with bursts of cranberry and a crunchy crumb topping. The batter of this cake is thick, but that's normal. Spreading it into layers isn't the easiest task, but it does not need to be perfect in order to get a good result.

This cake lasts about 3 or 4 days if you store it in your fridge. You can also bake it ahead of time and freeze it for future use. When I baked this, it got rave reviews from friends and family (even from some of my toughest critics). If you like almond cakes, you will love this festive variation.

Adapted from Laura Owen
Makes one 8"x8" cake

2 cups plus 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup sour cream
12 to 14 ounces whole berry cranberry sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup small almond pieces

Preheat your oven to 350ºF/175ºC. Line the bottom of an 8"x8" baking pan with parchment paper and grease and flour the pan.

In a bowl, whisk together 2 cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together 1/2 cup of butter and the 1 cup of sugar until fluffy. With the mixer running on low, beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the almond extract. Add the dry ingredients to the batter alternately with the sour cream.

Pour half of the batter into your prepared pan, trying to spread it out as evenly as possible on the bottom. Add the cranberry sauce on top of this layer, spreading it evenly over the batter, but keeping it about 1/4" from the edges. Add the remaining batter on top of the sauce and spread it out as best as possible.

In a small bowl mix together the last 1/3 cup of flour, 3 tablespoons of butter, brown sugar, and almond pieces. Sprinkle this mixture over the batter.

Bake 60 to 70 minutes until golden brown.

Pin It Now!