Cranberry Coffee Cake

Coffee Cake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 stick unsalted butter - softened
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• zest and juice from 1 tangerine (if you use an orange instead it will have more juice in which case you may eliminate the milk)
• 2 cups cranberries

Almond Topping

• 1 egg white
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 cup sliced almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9x9 pan (I use bakers spray, I am not sure if this is a real baker's no-no but it's a great shortcut!). Roughly chop half the cranberries, leave the other half whole (that sounds funny)
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients for the cake. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. Add the eggs and milk beat. Add the zest and juice and beat.
3. Now stir the dry ingredients into the wet until they are incorporated, but don't overdo it. Fold in the cranberries. Spread the batter into the pan. It is a thick batter - don't be alarmed!
4. Whisk together the eggwhite, cardamom and sugar for the topping. Fold in the almonds and coat them thoroughly, then spread that mixture over top of the batter.
5. Bake for 50 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Let it cool at least until you don't burn yourself before you dig in. Try not to pick all of the almonds off the top before that. This is also great to bake the night before - but don't put it in the fridge - I did that one time and it made the almonds go soft.