Cranberry-Orange Bundt Cakes

Last weekend I made the most adorable baby bundts! I recently bought a mini-bundt baking pan from Target's seasonal Easter section and couldn't wait to bake something bite-sized in it. After flipping through my pound cake recipes, I came across this Cooking Light one that I tore out of their December magazine. They were easy to make and turned out so moist and delicious. You would never think it was from a 'light' magazine!

Cranberry-Orange Bundt Cakes

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Ingredients:

Baking spray with flour (such as Baker's Joy)

13 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3 cups) 

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

12 tablespoons butter, softened 

3 large eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

1 cup sweetened, dried cranberries

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup fresh orange juice (I bought one large orange, but really needed 2)

1 tablespoon butter, melted 

2 teaspoons grated orange rind

Gather all of your ingredients together. When I cook, especially baking, I like to get out everything I need at the beginning.

Preheat oven to 350 and coat your baking pan or pans well with cooking spray. My pan had 12 bundt molds. The batter was enough for me to do 3 batches of cakes. It would have been much faster with 2 pans! I may go buy the other one soon, hopefully Target still has some!

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

Place granulated sugar and 12 tablespoons butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. 

Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

When it's all combined, this is what your batter will look like.

Next, measure the cranberries and grab your oranges - I really needed 2 instead of 1 to get enough juice. Before you juice your orange, go ahead and zest it for the icing.

Set the zest aside. Combine dried cranberries and 1/2 cup orange juice in a microwave-safe dish. Microwave at HIGH for 1 minute; let stand 10 minutes.

This mixture smells pretty good after microwaving!

Fold cranberry mixture into batter.

Spoon batter evenly into prepared pans. Only fill about half full. I filled my first batch too close to the top and they had major bundt bottoms!

Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool 5 minutes in pans on a wire rack; remove from pans.

Combine powdered sugar, 1/4 cup fresh orange juice, melted butter, and grated orange rind, stirring until smooth.

Dip tops of cooled cakes in glaze; let stand until set.

Baby bundts are about the cutest thing ever. They are irresistible! Perfectly bite-sized, these would be great for Easter, a wedding or baby shower, holiday gifts, or just a Sunday treat. I took over half of mine to work and they were gone within an hour. I kept a small batch for us and had a baby cake each morning for breakfast.....hey, they're very breakfast-y!

 YUM! Enjoy :)