Orange cranberry and pistachio bundt cake

Orange cranberry and pistachio bundt cake is deliciously buttery and moist, with a soft and tender crumb. White chocolate chunks and the orange syrup turn it into a stunner. Ideal for breakfast, tea time or as a festive dessert.

I love Christmas and the whole holiday season. It is a magical time and, at the same time, the perfect occasion when baking every day is something totally normal. Wink. Oh, I love it. The whole house is wrapped in wonderful smells and aromas. You can smell Christmas in the air.

Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, orange and cardamom are just some of my favourite spices and flavours that I like to use in the Christmas season. More, the stars in this recipe are cinnamon, cranberries, pistachios and orange. For some more sweetness, I added white chocolate chunks. A match made in heaven. I promise you.

These ingredients make a gorgeous festive combination. Therefore, make sure to use plenty of all. Wink. They will make your cake rich and more flavourful. This festive wintery cake is screaming orange and cinnamon. So delicious! And the colour, texture and flavour are just fabulous. The mornings when I had a slice of this cake are too many to count. Wink.

For some more ideas, you might check these delicious recipes: an alcohol-free pear cocktail, a gorgeous apple cinnamon cheesecake, a rich walnut cake, an English fruit cake or this olive oil orange cake.

Bundt cake

Instead of a classic round cake, I decided on making a bundt cake. The bundt cake has a distinctive shape that everyone recognises. It has a typical doughnut shape. Wink. However, you can take any form you like, just make sure you adapt the baking time properly to the size of your cake. I am sure this recipe makes quite beautiful small cakes as well.

This orange, cranberry and pistachio bundt cake is ridiculously easy and quick to make. In fact, bundt cakes are one of the easiest cakes you can bake. And, they can be as stunning as also delicious as any other cake.

Additionally, you can make your bundt cake even more beautiful and interesting, with nothing more than a little poured icing, sweet syrup or some chopped nuts. I could’ve made a normal syrup, but since I used orange, I decided on an orange-flavoured syrup.

Ingredients for one orange cranberry and pistachio bundt cake:

• 160 g flour
• 6 g baking powder
• 8 g of cinnamon
• 60 g rolled oats
• 40 g ground pistachios
• 30 g ground almonds
• 60 g marzipan
• 170 g butter (soft)
• 130 g icing sugar
• 4 eggs
• 60 g roughly chopped pistachios
• 60 g dried cranberries
• 70 g white chocolate chunks (ca 1 cm large)
• 2 oranges (20 g zest and 150 ml juice)
• 70 g sugar (for syrup)
• (100 ml milk or orange juice (if the batter results too dense))

To begin, preheat the oven to 190°C. Grease the bundt cake form and dust it with flour. Tap out the rest.

In a bowl combine flour, rolled oats, baking powder, cinnamon, ground almonds and ground pistachios. Give it a stir.

Then, in another bowl, add the marzipan and 2-4 teaspoons of orange juice. Mix until smooth. Add the soft butter and icing sugar to the marzipan and beat until fluffy and smooth. At this point, mix in the eggs, one at a time. Afterwards, stir in the orange zest.

Next, add the flour mixture to the egg-butter batter and mix it just enough to combine. Last but not least, fold in the white chocolate chunks, cranberries and roughly chopped pistachios.

Pour the batter into the cake form, smooth the top and put it in the oven on the middle rack. Bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 160°C and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Once the cranberry pistachio bund cake is baked, take it out of the oven but leave it in the form for 15 more minutes. Then, invert it onto the wire rack, still leaving the form on. Allow to chill off completely.

In the meantime, prepare the orange syrup. In a smaller saucepan, add sugar and orange juice. Bring to a simmer and cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Finally, place the orange cranberry and pistachio bundt cake onto a serving plate and brush it generously with the orange syrup. You might sprinkle some more orange zest on it, too.

Enjoy.