What’s Thanksgiving without some cranberry recipes? I came across a recipe for Nantucket Cranberry Pie, something I’d never heard of. The recipe sounded super easy and looked yummy, although there were several references to how messy it was to eat but worth the mess for the flavors. Oh, and it’s a cake not a pie.
In my usual fashion, I changed up the recipe quite significantly and OMG! This turned out really well, was super easy to throw together and the photos don’t do justice to how beautiful the presentation is. Mr. ELEB was standing next to me when I flipped the pan over on to the serving plate and we both went “Wow!”
My recipe is about 10% lower in calories than the original (would be even lower if you leave out the chocolate, but don’t!). Switching out most of the butter for oil cuts the saturated fat down from 12 grams to 8 per serving, which is better but still makes this a "special treat".
For whatever reason, the changes I made resulted in a cake that held together great (unlike what was described in the original recipe). I took it that evening to a beach picnic where it got a thumbs up from some “foodie” friends, all good cooks, so I was pleased. It is so different from the original recipe that they dubbed it “Susie’s Cranberry Surprise Cake”. To be fair to my inspiration, I’ll stick with the original name, at least for this post.
You could do a dozen or more things with this recipe. Use different fresh or frozen fruit. Put the batter in first and then stir the fruit through the batter (although it wouldn’t be nearly as pretty). Use canola or other mild oil instead of olive oil. Or (and I intend to do this) double the batter and leave the fruit off all together for a totally different and very yummy simple cake.
Divided into 10 servings: approximately 346 calories, 24 grams fat, 33 grams carbs, 4.5 grams protein
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 5 TBSP sucralose sweetener, divided
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup mild olive oil
1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate mini morsels
Cooking spray
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put cranberries and walnuts in food processor and pulse until roughly chopped. Mix in 5 TBSP sucralose. Pour in to bottom of round cake pan sprayed with cooking spray and pat down firmly.
Stir remaining ingredients together in a bowl and pour/spread over cranberry mixture.
Bake in middle of oven for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Place serving platter over top of pan and flip. Remove pan.
Cool completely. Store covered at room temperature (if there is any left over to store).
Some great suggestions from the gang at the picnic: add a dollop of whipped cream; dust with powdered sugar; more chocolate-use regular morsels or chunks instead of the minis or top with drizzles of chocolate sauce. As I said, dozens of ideas to try!
Printable Recipe
Original inspiration from Cooking Books blog