This cake is perfectly Christmasy. It smells wonderful while it bakes and it tastes yummy too.

I found the recipe on a message board I frequent. The woman who posted it said it originally came from Fine Cooking Magazine. It’s easy to make.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1/2 lb. butter, very soft
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw, rinse, drain and dry them) at room temp.
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk, at room temp.
2 large eggs, at room temp.
2/3 cup sour cream, at room temp.
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature. I used White Lily flour the first time I made the cake (NOT the self-rising kind) and I thought it came out a bit less dense than the cake flour version, but both were good.

Position the rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees. Lightly butter the sides and bottom of a 9″ cake pan. (I don’t have a 9″ cake pan so I used a 10 1/2″ iron skillet. My friend used a spring form pan.) You want the sides of the pan to be at least 2.5″ high.

Put 1 1/2 sticks of butter in a bowl. With a wooden spoon cream together the butter, sugar and one egg yolk. Switch to a whisk and mix in the additional eggs one at a time. Whisk until the sugar begins to disolve and the batter is smooth. Whisk in the vanilla, sour cream and salt.

Sift in the cake flour, baking powder and baking soda directly into the wet ingredients. (I don’t have a sifter so I just ran a fork through the flour mixture before adding it.) Stir until all the ingredients are combined. The batter will be satiny.

Put the remaining 4 Tbs. of butter into the pan and set it in the oven to melt. Then mix the brown sugar and cinnamon into the butter. Spread this out as evenly as you can and put the rinsed and drained cranberries over the top. Spread the batter over the top of the cranberries and pop it into the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Cool for 5-10 minutes and then dump it out on a plate.

Don’t forget to lick the sticky yummy stuff from the pan!

I’m showing this off at Home for the Holidays Party