Not-so-Pretty Cranberry Sauce Coffee cake

After Thanksgiving, I had a lot of leftover cranberry sauce. I usually only make a little to go with my cornbread dressing, but since the bag of frozen cranberries had been sitting in my freezer for a while I cooked the whole bag. As a result, I had a bowl full of cranberry sauce that I had no clue what to do with. I’m not someone who doesn’t like to waste food, so I try to find a use for leftovers. While I’m used to having leftover cranberries after Thanksgiving, but not leftover cranberry sauce. I searched the internet for ideas but came up empty. The recipes I came across called for whole cranberries and not cranberry sauce. After coming up empty I was worried that my cranberry sauce was going to go bad and I’d have to throw them out. So I decided to get creative and try to make a cranberry sauce coffee cake with the leftover cranberry sauce.

The Experiment

I had no clue how my experiment was going to turn out, but it was worth a try. In the summer when berries are in season, I make a lot of coffee cakes. I have a basic go-to recipe that I use, it’s simple and works with all kind of berries. Since it’s basic I figured it would work with cranberry sauce. When I went to fold in the cranberry sauce I notice the batter started to change colors, which worried me. I thought my experiment was turning into a disaster. But after it was finished and I tried the cranberry sauce coffee cake, I realized it was nothing to worry about.

It’s not the prettiest, but it’s delicious and goes great with a cup of coffee or tea. The cake is sweet but is balanced out by the tartness of the cranberry sauce. I think the color change came from the ingredients in the batter reacting to the cranberry sauce. I plan on experimenting more with the recipe in the future, but for now, it’s not a bad way to use up leftover cranberry sauce.

Not-so-Pretty Cranberry Sauce Coffee cake

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of non-dairy butter
• 1/2 cup of non-dairy milk + 1 tablespoon of lemon (let sit for a few minutes)
• Zest of one lemon
• 1 tablespoon of flaxseed meal = 3 tablespoons of water (let sit for 5 minutes)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups of cranberry sauce

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Then take a grease a 9 x 9-inch baking pan. Next, in a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar. After that, add in butter blend using a fork, harns, or pastry blender until coarse. Set aside.
2.  In a separate bowl mix together milk mixture, lemon zest, flaxseed mixture, and vanilla. Once well combined, stir into the flour mixture. Next, pour a layer of batter, then top with cranberry sauce. Repeat layers ending with leftover cranberry sauce.
3. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until it passes the clean knife test. Let cool completely before serving.

Notes: 

• Get the print-friendly version here.
• Can substitute cranberry sauce for 12 oz of fresh or frozen cranberries.

Related post: Vegan Orange Cranberry Quick Bread

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