Walnut Cranberry & Naartjie Cake

I’m getting better at understanding the science behind baking.  It’s November in South Africa and pouring with rain.  My garden is parched, so Im grateful for the abundance of rain and the cool air and mist moving through the valley. It’s Sunday, and I have a vigourous burst of energy to be creative and to clean.  There’s a half made Christmas wreath lying on the dining room table. A beautiful green sample of wallpaper embossed in silver cherry blossom sits next to my computer on my desk. I think I want to make cards or festive gifting tags with it.  I remember, whilst cleaning the book case last week that I have a paper crafts book I bought years ago.  I was full of ideas and intentions, but always too busy and distracted to be calm and patient and sit still for a minute just to be creative without an end goal to achieve. I’ll get to that one day, I said. 

Thinking back how time has compressed into a pancake and 34 years have passed and the most I’ve done with that well meaning craft book is dust it off and flip through the yellowed pages of old fashioned paper crafts.  I see a template inside with what looks like a box and our names “Jacque & Brian printed in gold in a double frame on the right.  There are crop marks and fold lines in strategic places and I try to recall what we used it for.  I remember. It was 19:10:91, a day I had scanned and circled months ahead when deciding what day we would tie our knot together. I loved the look of the numbers as they stood tall, side by side, almost a palindrome. I remember thinking Brian will never forget our special date, I was wrong, it’s not his strong suit of skills. He has plenty more important ones.  In 1991 traditional fruit cake was the wedding cake, I hated fruit cake and never thought to change it to chocolate or carrot cake.  I glance over at the now half folded template and remembered what it’s use was.  We made little take-away wedding cake slices for each guest.  I was 22 and discovered double sided tape for the first time. It was like magic, sticking those boxes together. They looked so professional no one would think they were homemade. I am now inspired to make Christmas crackers with the piece of wallpaper. 

I had seen a quick video on Pinterest showing how easy it was. The last time I made Christmas crackers was in 2004, they year the Tsunami hit Thailand. I vowed I’d never make them again and here I am again enthralled with the new video on how to make them . Back then I had collected the inside cores of toilet rolls.   I did a few folds and then decided to use cheap A4 printing paper to practice on, the words “measure twice, cut once” ringing through my head. I cut the template and used it for 1 cracker then had a smaller piece left over which I used for a smaller, fatter, rather out of proportion “cracker”. I used them as props in my Christmas photo shoot.  

Christmas wreath

I returned to my dining room table to finish off the Christmas wreath.  I had discovered ribbons and a mini mirror ball in the recently cleaned book shelves which I used to complete the task.  We have a huge boundary wall covered in long strands of ivy that work so perfectly when wound and woven into a big circle.  I added gold ribbon bows recently tied together with twine. I added cinnamon bark and I am sure I will continue to add to it until Christmas Day.

I also found a Carries Kitchen weekly publication folded open to a Walnut Layer Cake. I wondered why I hadn’t gotten around to making it. And so began my brain thinking what I could add to “Christmasify”it!  I have cranberries in the pantry, naartjies in the fridge and fresh ginger in a basket in the potato and onion cupboard. I put all my previous bits of knowledge together to weave this recipe for Christmas. I hope you enjoy it too.  I didn’t make icing because I wanted a plane cake.  I have never been much of an icing person because of the unnecessary fat and sugar.  A spread of butter works perfectly too. 

Walnut Cranberry and Naartjie Cake

Ingredients

• 2 naartjies zest and juice divided
• 30 g cranberries chopped
• 2 tsp ginger grated
• 175 g self raising flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 175 g soft butter
• 175 g brown sugar
• 10 g olive oil
• 3 Exl eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 50 g chopped walnuts

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C
• Grease a 22 cm bundt pan
• Zest the naartjies and set aside
  2 naartjies zest and juice divided
• juice naartjies add pour half into a small pan, add the cranberries and ginger and simmer on medium high heat until all the juice has reduced set aside to cool
  30 g cranberries, 2 tsp ginger grated
• Sift the flour and baking powder together and add the zest
  175 g self raising flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• In a stand mixer fitted with a creaming attachment add the butter and sugar and beat for 3 minutes whilst slowly drizzling in the olive oil. Beat until light and fluffy
  175 g soft butter, 10 g olive oil, 175 g brown sugar
• Add the eggs, one at a time and continue to beat with each addition. The mixture may split, don’t panic when the flour is added the mixture will come together as it should. Add the vanilla
  3 Exl eggs, 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour in batches of 3, continuing to beat between each edition
• Add the cranberry mix to the walnuts and fold into the cake batter
  50 g chopped walnuts
• Spoon the batter into the cake pan, levelling off to a flat smooth surface
• Place pan on baking tray and bake in preheated oven for 40 – 45 minutes
• Remove from oven and brush with remaining naartjie juice
• Leave to cool in pan for 12 minutes
• Turn onto wire rack and cool
• Decorate with cream cheese icing and walnuts drizzle with honey if desired
• Notes

Notes

Make into muffins or a loaf if you don’t have a bundt pan