Holiday Cranberry Pudding

 This is a fabulous holiday dessert! I was initially not very interested in making it. I'm not much of a pudding-eater, and so I kept skipping over it, as I browsed the cookbook. I should remind myself that one of my other fav recipes in the Pudding chapter is also called a pudding but bakes up as a cake...(see Maple Cottage Pudding blog). This Cranberry "pudding" bakes up as a cake! With a lovely sweet sauce to pour over the cake, sort of like a semi-liquid frosting. 

I recently made Cranberry-Rhubarb Jam (see blog) and had leftover cranberries that I had chopped in the food processor. This recipe called for cranberries cut in half, and as much as I love the interior symmetrical design of a cranberry which is revealed only when you slice it in half, I'm also rather keen on not letting food go to waste. So, I measured out the chopped cranberries, and it was the exact amount needed for the pudding. I figured it was a sign that I should not worry about sliced cranberries anymore. And, the end result is rather pretty, I think, sort of a red confetti look to the cake.

It is a dense, moist, sweet cake, and I poured the sauce over the cake portions before serving. I think the cake might look even prettier plated at Christmas with some fresh raspberries sprinkled around it. A nice soft red berry to pick up the red in the cake. And yes, I know raspberries are not in season in northern New England in winter. In which case, serve thawed raspberries.  Or, freeze your cranberries now, pull them out come raspberry season, and make a "Christmas-in-July" Cranberry Pudding cake with fresh raspberries sprinkled around it. Your friends and family will love it!



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