Cranberry Coffee Cake

Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon Bourbon vanilla bean seeds, or 1 vanilla bean scrapped

2 cups frozen cranberries, thawed

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon, unsalted butter, softened, divided

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup confectioners sugar, for dusting

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9×2-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease the pan and the parchment, set aside.

In a small bowl, add the sugar and vanilla bean and mix. Set aside.

Place the cranberries in the bowl of a kitchen mixer fitted with a metal blade. Add 1/2 a cup of the sugar-vanilla mixture. Pulse on/off until finely chopped.

In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.

In the bowl of a kitchen mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup of the vanilla sugar and beat on high until well mixed. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. Slowly add the flour mixture and milk alternating. Mix to blend.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking pan. use a rubber spatula to spread evenly. Spread the cranberry-mixture on top of the batter leaving a small boarder. Spoon the remaining batter on top in small spoonfuls, using a spatula to spread out as best as possible.

In a small bowled the reserved 1/4 cup vanilla sugar and remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Blend the mixture with your fingertips. Spread over the top layer of the batter.

Place in the oven and bake until set, about 50 minutes. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan.

Once the cake has cooled, remove the cake from the pan and dust with the confectioners’ sugar. Slice and serve.