Cointreau-Glazed Cranberry Clementine Tea Cake – The Bojon Gourmet

By foodiva

Ingredients

• Cake:
• Cointreau-Glazed Cranberry Clementine Tea Cake
• Adapted this Lemon Huckleberry Tea Cake, which I originally adapted from a pound cake recipe in Fine Cooking
• ne. Enjoy this cake with breakfast, brunch, or, as the name implies, afternoon tea.
• 8×4 9×5″ 8-10 or 9×5″ loaf, 8-10 servings
• 4 4 1/2 ounces (1 stick, 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 3 2 ounces (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 1 1/4 1/4 cups sugar (preferably organic cane sugar)
• 3 zest of 3 clementines (or other medium tangerines)
• 3 3 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 2 to cups fresh cranberries, halved (if frozen, probably no need to defrost first)
• Glaze:
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup powdered sugar (sifted if clumpy)
• 4 4 to tablespoons Cointreau (or other orange liqueur), or enough to make a thin glaze
• Make the cake:
• Make the glaze:
• While the cake is cooling, whisk together the powdered sugar and cointreau until you have a glaze that’s about as thin as half and half. Brush the glaze all over the top and sides of the warm cake. Let the cake cool completely, at least one hour.
• to cake keeps well, wrapped, at room temperature or in the fridge, for up to a week

Details

Servings 8
Adapted from bojongourmet.com

Preparation

Step 1

seasonal recipes from a recovering pastry chef

I’ve wanted to make a gussied-up version of this coffee shop staple ever

Ever since cranberries came clamoring into season, I’ve been waiting (not so) patiently for clementines to make their appearance so that I might marry them into holy, buttery-loaved bliss. Week after week, with “clems” scrawled hopefully on the shopping list, I passed over several types of mandarins and every variety of orange. Satsuma Triple Sec Sour Berry Sweet Bread just wouldn’t have had the same ring. Cara caras could have worked, but would have been a bit of a mouthful. And I wasn’t about to

several years ago in an old issue of Fine Cooking. After several sad pound cakes whose thin batters let berries slip through to congregate on the bottom of the pan, I was euphoric when I cut into this cake to find the berries dotted evenly throughout the batter.

berries aloft while simultaneously adding moisture and tangy richness. Had I more room up top, you can bet I’d have titled this recipe Cranberry Clementine Cointreau Cream Cheese Tea Cake.

A simple glaze made from powdered sugar whisked with Cointreau orange liqueur is brushed on the still-warm cake, crackling as it cools and locking in

moisture. It doesn’t taste obviously boozy, but it adds a little

the cake moist, but not so sweet to put you off reaching for another

the oven, or cooled and kept for up to 5 days at room temperature. Make it with fresh cranberries as clementines are beginning their season, or use frozen berries later on.

But if you choose to make this with tangelos, pixies or murcotts, it can be our little secret.

Clementines come into season as cranberries are on their way out. You could certainly substitute other citrus zest for the clementines, or use frozen cranberries (probably no need to thaw first). And I’m eager to try this with rhubarb in place of cranberries in the spring. An 8×4″ pan will yield a tall loaf, like the one pictured here, but if a 9×5 incher is what you’ve got, that will work just fine. Enjoy this cake with breakfast, brunch, or, as the name implies, afternoon tea.

Makes one 8×4 or 9×5″ loaf, 8-10 servings

4 tablespoons Cointreau (or other orange liqueur), or enough to make a thin glaze

Make the cake:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325º. Line an 8×4 or 9×5″ loaf pan with a sling of parchment paper (or just shove a piece of paper in there, creasing the folds flat). (Lacking parchment, you can generously grease the pan and dust it with flour.)

Combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar and zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium until light and fluffy, 3 – 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl and the paddle as needed. (The mixture may break, and that’s ok.) Stir in the vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add it to the batter, stirring on low speed until just combined. Fold the batter a few times with a rubber spatula, scraping the paddle and bottom of the bowl, to make sure the batter is thoroughly combined, and that any zest clumps are distributed throughout the batter. Gently fold in the cranberries. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Make the glaze:

While the cake is cooling, whisk together the powdered sugar and cointreau until you have a glaze that’s about as thin as half and half. Brush the glaze all over the top and sides of the warm cake. Let the cake cool completely, at least one hour.

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