I discovered this recipe last Christmas (we actually served it after cheese fondue for our kid-friendly New Year’s Eve party… I miss parties!) and have been patiently waiting all year to make it again. Just because it’s called Christmas cake doesn’t mean you have to make it during the holidays, but it’s perfectly festive bursting with red cranberries and dusted with a flurry of powdered sugar.

I love this cake for many reasons: First, it’s not too sweet. It’s full of sugar, but the tart berries cut the sweetness. Second, the almonds. The batter is flavored with vanilla as well as almond extract (one of the best scents on earth!) and the top is covered with crunchy toasted almonds. So much flavor! Last, (sorry, this is like 3 things…) it’s tender and moist and totally addictive.

Best of all, this cake is really simple to make. Though I was having an off day this weekend when I baked it (I blame the sinus infection/headaches I’ve been battling) and accidentally started creaming the butter and sugar together. (Which is typical for cookies but won’t work here because you need to beat the eggs first because they provide the leavening.) So I started over but misread the recipe again and started creaming the butter and eggs. After several minutes of trying to figure out why they wouldn’t combine, I realized my mistake and had to start over yet again. Third time was the charm. Don’t be silly like me and please start by creaming your sugar and eggs and all will go well…!

Cranberry Almond Christmas Cake

INGREDIENTS

2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup butter, room temperature (salted or unsalted- I used unsalted butter and added 1/4 tsp. sea salt, but salt is optional)
1 tsp. pure almond extract
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (12-oz.) bag fresh cranberries (or frozen and thawed cranberries, also works with a 10-oz. bag cranberries and will be slightly sweeter)
1 cup sliced almonds
powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 9×13 baking pan (or coat with nonstick cooking spray). Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and eggs for 5 minutes with an electric mixer on medium. The volume of the mixture will increase by almost half and will be thickened. Do not skip this step. The eggs will work as the leavening the cake needs to rise.
3. Add butter and extracts (and salt, if using) and beat for 2 more minutes. Slowly add flour and beat until combined. Fold in cranberries.
4. Using a spatula, pour and smooth into prepared pan. Sprinkle almonds over top.
   Bake for ~45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely and dust with powdered sugar (optional) before cutting.

Makes a 9×13 cake.

(Adapted from The Slow Roasted Italian)