Cranberry Almond Pound Cake

By Foodiewife

This cranberry almond pound cake is very moist, and the flavor of almond paste, almond extract and Amaretto will satisfy any palate that loves almond! It's very easy to make, and is terrific with a morning cup of coffee, or any time of day.

Ingredients

• GLAZE:
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup Amaretto liqueur
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 ounces almond paste, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (10 ounces) unsalted butter
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
• 2 tablespoons milk* or Amaretto
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• If using milk, you may also add a few drops of almond extract.

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 80mins
Adapted from foodiewife-kitchen.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

Two hours before baking, heat the Amaretto and dried cranberries in a small saucepan. Let cool, stirring occasionally, until the fruit has soaked up all of the liquid.

Preheat oven to 325℉, oil pan with Pam with Flour cooking spray.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, using the paddle of an electric mixer on low speed, combine almond paste, almond extract and sugar until mixture looks like wet sand. Add butter; mix at medium speed until very fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape bowl with rubber spatula. Add eggs, one by one, beating until blended. On low speed add 1/3 dry ingredients and 1/3 sour cream; scrape bowl with a spatula. Repeat twice more. Finally beat for 20 seconds, until smooth. Fold in all berries.

Fold batter into prepared pan. Level top with spatula and tap pan gently to evenly distribute batter into the pan. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool cake in pan for 20 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack. Make the glaze while the cake is cooling.

GLAZE:


Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl and slowly blend in milk or Amaretto with a fork until smooth. Drizzle the warm cake with the glaze. Once cool, transfer to a serving platter.

Notes: If you want to make a smaller cake, divide the recipe in half and use loaf pans.
I used my food processor to blend the almond paste with the sugar, and substituted fat free sour cream for the regular sour cream.