Kitchen tales: Cranberry cake

I have a confession to make. I do not like to cook. But that’s probably a sweeping statement. I just don’t like to cook meals but I absolutely love to bake goodies. With me it’s all about the sweet stuff – or maybe I should say that it’s all about the chocolate stuff. Chocolate. Mint. Lemon. My favourite dessert flavours. I consider nearly all others to be a waste of calories. I have come to the realisation that I don’t have enough years left here to earth to bake all the wonderful desserts in some of my favourite recipe books or that I have pinned in my Cakes, Cupcakes, Cookies and Brownies board on Pinterest.

But, as usual, I digress. It has become something of a tradition that every time there is a holiday or a celebration of some sort, I always volunteer to make dessert: baking, it’s one of life’s greatest pleasures. So every Thanksgiving (to mention just one of the holidays) my husband cooks the turkey (or the ham or the capon) and I take care of the dessert. And nearly every year we have a small argument. Well, not quite an argument, but you know what I mean. I find traditional Thanksgiving desserts to be too sweet and cloying – like they’ve been doused in syrup and I don’t find that appealing at all. I am also ‘banned’ from making anything with chocolate in it (because I make a chocolate-something for nearly ever other dessert during the year). Add that to the fact that I don’t really like anything with pumpkin in it (because pumpkin is a vegetable and, in my opinion, it shouldn’t qualify as a dessert in any way, shape or form) and I have quite a dilemma on my hands. My challenge is to find something special (sans chocolat) but without that over-the-top sweetness that will give everyone a sugar high that will last till sunrise.

This year I was about to despair because I couldn’t quite find anything special enough or that would be given the green light by my partner in kitchen escapades. And then, just two days before Thanksgiving, I found this recipe for Glazed Lemon Cranberry Cake on Annie’s Eats* (via Pinterest, of course). My  instinct told me it would be sheer perfection. And it was. The cake is easy to make, gorgeous to look at (even if mine had a slight, ahem,  accident while I was taking it out of the bundt pan) and it is the perfect combination of tangy and sweet. Above all it was given a thumbs up by The American and my dad and uncle had a second helping because it just makes you want to eat more instead of making you feel as stuffed as a turkey.

Yes, I know, my food photography skills leave a lot to be desired.

With Thanksgiving done and dusted (I can’t believe it’s already been two weeks) I am now searching for the perfect Christmas dessert recipe.

*Annie credits the original recipe to Williams-Sonoma. I’ve linked to the original recipe below. I read both recipes and there is barely any difference between the two.

Links:

• Williams-Sonoma Glazed Cranberry-Lemon Cake
• Annie’s Eats Glazed Lemon Cranberry Cake

I have decided to started Kitchen Tales so that, every now and then. I will share a favourite recipe with you. And don’t worry, I am not turning this into a food blog. I am not exactly Ina Garten or Martha Stewart.