Almond Cranberry Creme Fraiche Bundts

Creme fraiche mini bundts filled with sweetened cranberries and toasted almonds, topped with an almond cranberry glaze.
First off, It's very exciting to have something be pink without the use of unnatural food coloring (thanks, cranberries!). I also thought this would be a good transition recipe back to the land of shades of brown. Now that cranberry has been given its dues, it's time to talk about the real star of this recipe: creme fraiche. The creamy smooth texture and subtle sourness of the creme fraiche gives this cake a delightful richness. This bundt is sweet, tart, warm, soft, crunchy....and pink! An all around winning recipe.

Almond Cranberry Creme Fraiche Bundt
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup creme fraiche
1/2 cup chopped, toasted and chopped
Whole-Berry Cranberry Sauce (recipe follows) or 2 cups canned whole berry-cranberry sauce

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour pan. Make cranberry sauce and glaze listed below. In stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated, and then vanilla. In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Add the dry ingredients in three increments, alternating with the creme fraiche in two increments (start and end with dry), until just combined. Gently stir in almonds and fill bundts 1/4 full. Layer in cranberry sauce until 1/2 way full, then top off with batter until 3/4 filled. Bake 30-35 minutes or until tops are golden. Let sit in pan for 15 minutes and then turn out on cooling rack. Once completely dry, dip bundts into glaze and set back on cooling rack with sheet pan underneath to catch drippings.

Whole Berry-Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
12 ounces fresh cranberries
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
Heat all ingredients in pot on stove over medium heat. After 10 minutes, reserve 1 tablespoon of liquid for the cranberry glaze. Sauce should be ready in 15 minutes, or when all the water has evaporated. Set aside to cool.

Cranberry Glaze
Ingredients
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 tablespoon cranberry juice (reserved from making the cranberry sauce)

Directions
Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl deep enough for dipping bundts. Mixture should be fairly thick, but milk can be added to loosen it up if needed.

Adapted from: The Kitchn