Cranberry and orange are a festive food marriage from heaven…together with the nutty bits of pistachio and little nuggets of white chocolate makes total cake perfection.

The trees in our garden are laden with the sweetest ever oranges, so any excuse to get them in a recipe…

I’ve even slow oven baked them to make a charming Christmas bowl, perfect with cinnamon sticks, star anise and foraged pine cones…now I’m digressing from the recipe!

These festive little cakes are slightly less naughty than a full fat/full sugar recipe. Here I have used less butter with the addition of pistachio oil (which is divine by the way), if you have difficulty buying this a light olive oil will be perfectly fine.

For the sugar part I used an unrefined raw cane organic sugar, if you want to go even healthier you can substitute this for coconut sugar. I really whisk up the butter, oil and sugar which results in an ultra fluffy light as air sponges. Also they’re so moist thanks to the yogurt and fresh orange.

I’ve used spelt flour because it’s loaded with essential nutrients including complex carbohydrates, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and more. Spelt is high in vitamin B2, niacin, thiamin, copper and magnesium – and because spelt is highly water-soluble, these nutrients are easily absorbed by the body. It’s is a good source of dietary fibre which has been shown to lower cholesterol levels.

These beautiful cakes studded with tangy cranberries and orange with a hint of almond are absolute perfection together. I like to scatter over chopped pistachios and some fresh redcurrants for the Christmassy touch and the sweet orange glaze adds to their charm. You can leave the glaze off, but it adds a little extra orange flavour.

Enjoy and I wish you a very merry Christmas x

Ingredients

(Makes 10 mini loaves)

100g unsalted butter

70ml pistachio oil (or a light olive oil)

160g unrefined organic sugar (or coconut sugar, or golden caster)

Grated zest of one orange

3 medium large free range eggs

200g spelt flour (or self raising)

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

100g yoghurt (natural or Greek)

70g dried cranberries

50g pistachio nuts

50g white chocolate

Few drops of almond essence (optional)

Orange drizzle

1-2 tablespoons unrefined organic sugar (or granulated)

Juice of 1 orange

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degree (fan). Add the butter, oil, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl and whisk until very light and fluffy. The sugar might seem a bit granular but don’t worry.
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time and continue to whisk until all combined
3. Now fold in the flour and baking powder until thoroughly mixed.
4. Gently fold in the yoghurt, almond essence, two-thirds of the cranberries nuts and all the chocolate pieces. Divide the mix between the mini loaf cases (or muffin cases), top with the remaining cranberries and nuts. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. For the orange drizzle topping mix together the orange juice with the sugar then pour over the warm loaves.