Cranberry Vanilla Coffeecake

Oh how I love this coffeecake. And oh, how I forget the process it is to make! Making sure that you have enough batter to cover the cranberry mixture is the key to making this coffeecake. That and having all of the prep done once you get started assembling the cake.

This isn't a particularly hard recipe to make, but it does take some time and thought. Here we go:

1 whole vanilla bean (buy at a well stocked grocery store, or Costco will have these on occasion. If it is a large vanilla bean, cut in 1/2)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (I prefer fresh)
2 cups plus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 stick plus 1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened, divided
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk (if you don't have whole milk, you can use what you have on hand too)

Garnish - confectioners sugar, if desired

Equipment - 9 by 2 inch round cake pan, parchment paper. If you don't have a 2 inch high pan, you can line the sides of the pan with parchment paper to protect the cake.

Steps:
Preheat the oven to 375 F with rack in the middle
Generously butter the sides and bottom of the pan, layer the bottom with parchment paper and butter the parchment paper. If you are using the parchment paper on the side, butter that as well.

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into a food processor with tip of a paring knife - you can reserve the pod for another use. Add sugar and pulse to combine. Transfer to a bowl.

Pulse cranberries with 1/2 cup of vanilla sugar in processor until finely chopped, but do not puree!

Whisk together 2 cups of flour (reserving the 1 tbsp), baking powder and salt.

Beat together 1 stick butter and 1 cup of vanilla sugar in a bowl with a mixer at medium high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture and milk - alternate between the two - starting and ending with the flour mixture. Paying attention to this step helps create a fluffy cake - adding all of the milk first makes the batter too dense, adding the milk last makes the cake too soft.

Spread half of the batter in the bottom of the pan. Spoon cranberry mixture over the top, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edges. Dot the top of the cranberries with the remaining batter - then very gently spread to create the top coating.

Blend remaining vanilla sugar with 1 tbsp each butter and flour with your fingertips. Crumble over the top of the cake.

Bake until a wooden pick inserted into cake (not into cranberry filling) comes out clean and side begins to pull away from the pan, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan for 30 min, then remove from the pan and cool completely, crumb side up.

Keeps for 2 days, very tightly wrapped at room temperature. If you can keep it around that long :)

Taken and slightly adapted from Gourmet Magazine, December 2008