Cranberry Coffee Cake

This is the final recipe for Christmas 2019 here at Vegetarian & Cooking! The day after I made this dinner I hosted eight friends for brunch and served this coffee cake as the dessert. In order to keep things simple, I made this cake Friday night and allowed it to cool completely before adding the frosting and toppings Saturday morning before taking photos for this meal. The cake was ready to serve and great for our brunch. The flavor of the coffee cake is great but it's pretty dense -- I cut this into nine large pieces but probably should have cut it into smaller pieces due to the richness of the cake. The dried cranberries over top are optional but I thought that they added a nice festive touch.

Pair with: Red Wine Caramelized Onion Goat Cheese Tarts, Christmas Citrus Cocktail, Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Dried Cranberries, Toasted Hazelnuts, and Orange Zest, and Vegetable Stew over Creamy Polenta

Recipe from Yummiest Food.

Ingredients:

For cake:

-3 eggs

-2 cups sugar

-1/2 cup melted butter

-1 teaspoon vanilla

-1/4 teaspoon baking soda

-1/4 teaspoon baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

-Pinch of salt

-1/2 cup buttermilk

-1 tablespoon grated orange zest

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-2 cups fresh cranberries

For cream cheese frosting:

-8 oz Neufchatel cheese, softened

-1 cup powdered sugar

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For topping:

-Dried cranberries

-1/2 cup white chocolate chips

For the cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 8-inch square baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground ginger, and salt. Then in the bowl of an electric stand mixer beat eggs and sugar for 5 minutes or until thickened. Add melted butter, buttermilk, vanilla, and grated orange zest and mix just until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just until combined.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and gently fold in the cranberries. Pour the batter evenly into prepared baking pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Topping
In a medium bowl, combine the Neufchatel cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla; mix until smooth using a hand mixer.

Use a spatula to spread the frosting over the cooled cake and then top with dried cranberries and drizzle with melted white chocolate.