cranberry spice cake

the ingredients
310 mL fresh or Western Family frozen cranberries, divided* 1 ¼ cup
75 mL granulated sugar 1/3 cup
15 mL grated orange zest 1 tbsp
250 mL Western Family all purpose flour 1 cup
250 mL packed brown sugar 1 cup
3 mL Western Family baking powder ½ tsp
5 mL baking soda 1 tsp
5 mL cinnamon 1 tsp
3 mL cardamom ½ tsp
1 mL ground cloves 1/8 tsp
2 mL salt ¼ tsp
1 Western Family egg 1
75 mL Western Family sour cream 1/3 cup
45 mL Western Family unsweetened applesauce 3 tbsp
60 mL finely chopped pecans ¼ cup

*Do not thaw if using frozen cranberries.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray or lightly grease an 8" (20 cm) square cake pan.

Combine half the cranberries, granulated sugar and orange zest in a small saucepan over medium heat. Boil gently, stirring often, until berries pop and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, add remaining cranberries, cool slightly.

Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt onto a piece of wax paper. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the egg, sour cream and applesauce until well combined. Slowly add dry ingredients while beating. Stir in contents of saucepan and pecans. Transfer batter to prepared pan, smoothing evenly. Bake about 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove and cool on rack. Cut into squares. Great with vanilla ice cream! If well wrapped, cake will freeze for up to one month.

Makes 9 squares.

Nutritional analysis per square
Calories 220 Protein 3 g Fat 4 g Carbohydrate 43 g Fibre 1.4 gg