Glazed Orange Cranberry Crumb Loaf

OK, so Christmas is over and the long Christmas weekend is over and you've eaten all the cookies in the house. You might have even made some public statements about being sick of sweets and ready for a healthy new year. But... the new year isn't here quite yet and you're getting hungry again and you do sort of still want something sweet. Or maybe that's just me.

But I suspect it's some of you, too. Maybe not another houseful of treats but just a little something sweet in the morning or with a cup of tea later in the day? I still had a bag of cranberries in the fridge and the traditional orange and cranberry combo is one of my very favorites. So I decided to make the very best orange cranberry treat I could as a last hurrah of the season. If you've been here before you know that my "very best" is going to include a crumb topping.

A lot of the seasonal treats I've been seeing in stores use dried cranberries but I really like the tartness of fresh cranberries mixed with the sweet cake. And while I normally don't need a glaze, it does give a good sweet finish to the bit of tart from the cranberries. Also, this one uses orange zest instead of juice and, if you don't normally use zest, you really need to use zest. Talk about a big hit of flavor. I wanted to pour it on everything. Enjoy!

by Hungry Couple

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 55 Minutes

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Ingredients (12 Servings)

• Loaf::
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1 Stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Cup buttermilk
• Juice of half an orange
• Zest of two oranges
• 2 Cups all purpose flour
• 2 Teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 Cups fresh cranberries
• 
  
• Crumb Topping:
• 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1" pieces
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoons salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon cinnamon
• 
  
• Glaze:
• 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon milk
• Zest of one orange
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a loaf pan. (I also placed a sheet of parchment paper in there for easy removal.)

Add the eggs and sugar to a large mixing bowl and beat together using a stand or hand mixer. Beat in the butter, vanilla, buttermilk, orange juice and orange zest until everything is well mixed.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Place the cranberries in another bowl and mix with one tablespoon of the flour mixture. Slowly mix the remainder of the flour mixture into the wet and then fold in the cranberries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Make the crumb topping by combing the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture resembles course crumbs. With your hands, clump the mixture and crumble it onto the batter in the pan. Bake 50 - 55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

To make the glaze, whisk the sugar, milk, zest and salt together until smooth and drizzle over the cooled cake.

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