The Sales Pitch:
Tart cranberries and toasted walnuts nestle beneath a tender, buttery cake, forming wonderfully crisp, chewy, almost cookie-like edges as they bake. Cape Cod Cranberry Walnut Butter Cake can be baked in a springform pan for neat wedges on a cake stand or in individual ramekins and served warm with vanilla ice cream. Either way, it’s a splendid use for fresh cranberries during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.
And how we got there…
This cake has been through quite a testing programme in the Entertablement kitchen—not because there was anything wrong with the flavour. Quite the opposite. The problem was persuading the finished cake to part company with its baking dish.
The original recipe is wonderfully nonchalant about the whole business. Melt a little butter in the bottom of a pie plate or cake pan, scatter in chopped cranberries and walnuts, sprinkle them with sugar, spread the thick buttery batter over the top and bake. Simple.
Except that during baking, the cranberries release their juice into the butter and sugar, the walnuts toast, and the whole delicious mixture caramelizes beneath the cake. It tastes fabulous. It also sticks like the dickens.
Turn the finished cake out of its pan and you can find yourself looking at a perfectly respectable butter cake on the plate and a substantial portion of its glorious cranberry layer still firmly attached to the baking dish. Attempts to reunite the two tend to produce something resembling the aftermath of a minor traffic accident.
Ask us how we know.
Fortunately, appearances aren’t everything. The various experiments were distributed around the neighbourhood, including generous wodges of the specimen above. Cheerful recipients simply plonked vanilla ice cream on top and ate the evidence. The verdict on flavour was unanimous.
A more successful whole cake went to another neighbour who was entertaining her sister-in-law from out of town. Reports came back that people were fighting over the last piece.
Clearly, the cake wasn’t the problem. We just needed to figure out how to serve it. After several experiments, we arrived at two solutions. The first was to stop fighting the cake altogether.
Bake it in individual ramekins and serve it exactly where it is, preferably still slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting over the top. Nothing needs to be unmoulded, every scrap of that sticky cranberry-and-walnut layer stays exactly where it belongs, and everyone gets plenty of crisp, buttery edge. Problem solved.
But sometimes you want an actual cake—something you can put on a stand and bring proudly to the table rather than handing everyone a ramekin.
For that version, well-sprayed parchment is the answer. Line the base of the pan with parchment, spray it generously, and suddenly the cake and its cranberry topping can be persuaded to emerge together in one handsome piece.
After all our testing, we hadn’t really changed the cake at all. We had simply learned how to outwit it.
The dense, buttery cake remains just as it should be, with tart cranberries, toasted walnuts and caramelized sugar forming that wonderful sticky layer beneath it.
Same delicious cake. Considerably less excavation.
Cape Cod Cranberry Walnut Butter Cake
This simple cranberry and walnut cake has a wonderfully buttery character, with tart cranberries and toasted walnuts beneath a tender cake layer. As it bakes, the fruit, nuts, butter and sugar form irresistible crisp, chewy edges.
The cake can be prepared two ways: bake it in a pretty pie plate and serve it directly from the dish for a relaxed dessert, or use a springform pan when you want neat slices for a cake stand.
Ingredients
For the filling
- 14 g or 1 tbsp butter, melted
- 227 g or 2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen, chopped
- 57 g or ½ cup walnuts, chopped
- 67 g or ⅓ cup granulated sugar
For the batter
- 2 large eggs
- 170 g or 6 oz butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 200 g or 1 cup granulated sugar
- 120 g or 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 5 ml or 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Prepare the pan(s)
- Preheat the oven to 175°C or 350°F. Prepare your chosen baking vessel:
- For individual cakes: Generously butter four 1-cup, approximately 6″ shallow baking dishes or mini pie plates.
- For one whole cake: Line the base of a 9″ springform pan with parchment. Generously coat the parchment and sides of the pan with baking spray. This is important—the cranberry walnut layer becomes very sticky as it bakes.
Make the cake(s)
- Melt 14 g or 1 tbsp unsalted butter and pour it evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan or divide it among the ramekins. Scatter the chopped cranberries and walnuts evenly over the butter, then sprinkle with 67 g or ⅓ cup granulated sugar. Gently spread into an even layer; do not stir or toss.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the remaining melted butter and sugar on medium speed until thoroughly combined.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until combined. The batter will be quite thick.
- Dollop the batter evenly over the cranberry-walnut mixture. Using a small offset spatula or the back of a spoon, gently spread the batter to the edges without disturbing the fruit and nut layer beneath.
Bake and serve
- For individual baking dishes: Begin checking for doneness after 25 minutes. Bake until golden and a tester inserted into the cake portion comes out clean, or an instant-read thermometer registers 93–96°C or 200–205°F. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool until warm. Serve directly from the dishes with vanilla ice cream.
- For a 9″ springform cake: Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until golden and a tester inserted into the centre comes out clean. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the cake portion, avoiding the cranberry layer, should register 93–96°C or 200–205°F. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 15–20 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edge, then carefully release the collar. Allow the cake to cool completely before carefully separating it from the base and transferring it to a cake stand or serving plate. Serve as is, or with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- Adapted from King Arthur Baking’s Nantucket Cranberry Cake.
- If you’re using frozen cranberries, either let them thaw a bit after chopping; or add a couple of minutes to the cake’s baking time.
- For Thanksgiving or Christmas:
The springform version makes a handsome cake that can be transferred to a cake stand and cut into wedges.
- For the weekend after Thanksgiving:
-
Use the individual baking dishes. It’s a particularly delicious destination for those last couple of cups of fresh cranberries lurking in the refrigerator.
