This week was so busy. Unfortunately, that means that I couldn’t get in any more baking than I had already done — so the last two nights of Hanukkah were missing their Eight Nights of Hanukkah posts. But let’s just pretend like this post happened on Friday, for night #7.
I have made my share of baked goods, but I have never actually baked a cake. So when my aunt decided which night of Hanukkah we’d be having our family dinner at her home, I offered to make a cake for dessert. I turned to my food blogger friends for help and found this cranberry Greek yogurt coffee cake from Cassie at Bake Your Day. Cranberries always make me think of the holiday season — I don’t know what it is about them, but those tart little berries are a really wintery ingredient. And who doesn’t love desserts with Greek yogurt? So I tried my hands at something very new… Not only would this be my first time baking a cake, but it’d be my first BUNDT cake, too!
As I was preparing the batter, I kept thinking something was wrong with it because of how thick it was. But it’s obviously very different than the batter for cookies or brownies, so I just wasn’t used to seeing it. The bake time is also considerably longer. I was really excited to try this out and kept my fingers crossed the whole time the cake was baking. When I took it out of the oven and got ready to remove it from the bundt pan, I braced myself. Would it look okay? Was it burnt at all? Did the cranberries fall out? I held my breath, held a plate over top of the cake and inverted the pan. The cake dropped right onto the plate with no problems, the cranberries were intact, and it looked good! YAY!
The real test would come later when everyone tried it…
SUCCESS! My first cake ever was a hit. The tartness you get from both the cranberries and Greek yogurt gave it a great flavor, and it was sooo moist. My effort to bring a tasty dessert was totally validated when people asked for seconds and wanted to take home what (little) was left over!
I guess I really am starting to get the hang of this baking thing. 😉