Cranberry Spice Cake with Cranberry Vanilla Cardamom Sauce

Recipe by Anna Gill

Serves: 10 - 12

For the Cake:
Softened butter for baking dish
1½ cups cake flour 
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon kosher salt 
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon baking powder 
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (8 ounces) fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries
⅔ cup sugar 
⅔ cup (packed) dark brown sugar 
½ cup extra lite olive oil 
2 large eggs
½ cup sour cream 
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup apple juice

For the Toppings:
1 cup prepared crème fraiche
1 - 2 cups Cranberry Vanilla and Cardamom Sauce (recipe below)

For the Cranberry Vanilla and Cardamom Sauce:
Makes about 2 ¼ cups
1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2¼ teaspoons finely grated orange peel
½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
¼ teaspoon cardamom seeds, lightly crushed, from green cardamom pods
1 vanilla bean

Special equipment: An 8"-square cake pan

For the Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Coat bottom and sides of cake pan with softened butter.
3. Whisk flour and next 5 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
4. Pulse cranberries in a food processor until well chopped; set aside.
5. Stir sugar, brown sugar, and oil in another medium bowl to blend. Add eggs one at a time, stirring to blend between additions.
6. Whisk in sour cream, orange zest, lemon zest, and vanilla. 
7. Whisk in ⅓ of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
8. Whisk in ½ the juice.
9. Whisk in another third of the dry ingredients. When complete, whisk in the remaining juice. Finally whisk in the remaining dry ingredients.
10. Gently blend in the chopped cranberries. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan; smooth top. 
11. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
12. Rotate the cake pan in the oven and bake for an additional 30 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
13. Transfer the pan to a wire rack; let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes.
14. Run a thin knife around inside of the pan to release the cake. Using a clean cloth invert the cake to remove it from the baking dish and place in on a serving dish.
15. Spread a thin layer of the crème fraiche across the top of the cake and add a swathe of cranberry sauce. When serving, top each piece with a bit more crème fraiche and cranberry sauce.

For the Cranberry Sauce:
1. Combine the first six ingredients for basic cranberry sauce in heavy medium saucepan.
2. Split vanilla bean lengthwise in half; scrape seeds into cranberry mixture and add bean.
3. Bring all ingredients to boil in heavy medium saucepan, stirring often. Reduce heat immediately to medium-low and simmer until most of cranberries burst, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
4. Remove bean.
5. Transfer sauce to medium bowl. Cool, cover, and refrigerate cranberry sauce.

ADVANCED PREP:Cranberry Sauce can be prepared 1 week ahead. Keep refrigerated.