Apple and Cranberry Cake

A wonderfully seasonal, delicately spiced cake kept moist with apples and plump cranberries.  It keeps for a good few days wrapped in greaseproof paper in a tin, if it lasts that long!

Ingredients

150g Dried Cranberries

100g Soft Butter

100g Caster Sugar

100g Light Brown Sugar

 2 x Apples (approx. 250g), peeled, cored and grated

2 Large Eggs
Juice of an Orange (about 50ml)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Ground Allspice
Half a teaspoon Cinnamon
250g Plain Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
Half a teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
For the Icing Glaze
3 tablespoons Icing Sugar
A tablespoon or so of the juice of an orange
a sprinkle of cinnamon

• Preheat the oven to 175C (fan) and line a loaf tin with greaseproof/baking paper.
• Tip the cranberries into a bowl and cover with hot water from a recently boiled kettle, leave to soak while you make the rest of the cake.
• Whisk the butter and both sugars together until pale and fluffy then add the grated apple, eggs and orange juice, whisk slowly until combined.  It will look curdled at this point but don't worry.
• Tip all the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix thoroughly.  Drain the cranberries and fold through the mixture to incorporate.  
• Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes to an hour, until a skewer comes out clean.
• Leave the cake to cool completely.  To make the icing mix the icing sugar with the juice and cinnamon until it is the consistency of single cream then trickle it over the cake and allow to set.
• This cake is better the day after it is made.