26 thoughts on “P & Q Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake”
hunting for cranberry sales
I am so incredibly excited for this! I’ve bought all the ingredients and will probably make it tomorrow. I love that you can make some stuff ahead too!
I haven’t seen cranberries around here.
I found my cranberries in the freezer section at Walmart. Im making this today..I think it’s going to be wonderful!!
I saw some in Kroger for the first time in a long time just a few days ago.
I am not one of your members but just looked at this recipe today to bake it in the close future. I am looking forward to all of your wonderful posts and cakes!
I made the ‘cranberry jam’ with some berries I had in the freezer. It is so yummy. I just ate some on a toasted English Muffin.
I will probably have to make another batch of jam–it is that good. I do love cranberries!
I loved the jam, too! I kept sneaking little spoonfuls of it. I bet it’s great on toast and muffins.
Me too! I just made the cranberry jam and was testing it for sweetness…we can’t stop!
I better hurry and make the cake/shortbread part fast.
I made with last weekend with my baking club friends, and it might be the best thing I have ever made… ever! Instead of cranberries we did cinnamon/sugar sauteed (diced) apples.
Also, we tried a neat little trick of freezing the dough and grating it into the springform pan instead of pressing it in. The texture comes out perfect!
Grating the dough? That is very intriguing to me. Probably baking these on Thursday. Looking forward to making the jam.
I’ve grated shortbread dough before (works great)! – the recipe was in Baking with Julia and it was a Hungarian Rhubarb shortbread bar (layer of grated dough, rhubarb jam, then topped with another layer of grated dough. You form the dough into two balls, then freeze and grate. The baker/recipe was Gale Gand. This would work just as well – looks exactly like the same type of recipe.
I love the Hungarian rhubarb shortbread! I may use rhubarb here, as cranberries aren’t my favourite thing. Thanks for the reminder–I’ll probably grate the dough too.
:)
The shortbread crust is the best crust I’ve ever had. I wish I would have done the apple filling though. The cranberry/orange filling was way to tart. My family did not like it..
I think the key to this jam is tasting it and continuing to add sugar until it is no longer too tart. It’s impossible to know how tart/sweet your cranberries will be so Dorie just gives us a jumping off point. I definitely had to add extra sugar to mine to prevent it from being too tart. I think when it is warm it also tastes more sweet than after it is finished/cooled…so if you really want to make sure it isn’t too tart, add sugar until it tastes fine and then add a little bit more!
You nailed it – I added more sugar (a lot, I though) to the mixture after it was off the stove. When I cut a test slice – it was back to the “tart” stage. Strange… good, but definitely tart. I probably should have made it overly sweet to begin with. Or used raspberry jam. :)
Do you think you could use a premade cranberry sauce adapted somehow? Or just outta the can?
I am super busy this weekend… might need a short cut.
Dorie says that you can use your favorite jam (any flavor) in the playing around section so I’m sure store bought cranberry sauce would be fine. I will say this, if you love cranberries, you might just want to make your own because it took a total of about 7 minutes start to finish- so easy and so yummy!
I agree – quick, easy and super-good! :)
agreed. it was so fast to make and so few ingredients. totally worth it.
I’m using a pear or apple filling – I like cranberries in biscotti etc. but a whole cranberry jam will be too tart for me and the team.
I made this the other night and it was a split group. My dad and I loved it, my sister and her boyfriend thought it was way too tart. I’m planning on making another version today.
I think it might be interesting to try making the cranberry version and adding a layer of sweetened cream cheese to the mix. I’m not sure how it would work out but I can’t get the idea out of my head.
Did you add more sugar to the jam after it cooked? I did – a LOT. :) I figured, I’m not wasting a whole bag of cranberries for a jam that has this much tart flavor. I liked it as is, but know my office mates. Just kept adding sugar until it tasted like a “sweeter” jam. But any other flavor would be great – pear, apple, raspberry…
No, I actually just added the amount of sugar the recipe called for. I thought maybe I’d have to add more but I tasted the jam and loved it. I was also worried that there might be a slightly bitter flavor that cranberries sometimes have but that was missing as well.
Like I said, my dad and I thought it was delicious and we didn’t think it was tart at all, but my sister thought it was waaay too tart. So, I think it might be a matter of personal taste here. As a general rule I don’t love sour things, but I do love all things cranberry, so perhaps that helps? Or maybe my cranberries just weren’t as tart to begin with?
We loved this. I think next time I will add a bit more sugar to the cranberries though. My cake didn’t rise too much, was it supposed to be about the size of one cake layer? It tasted great.
My hubby and I are in the process of moving-all my cake pans and baking wonderful-ness will be in boxes until just before the rewind. See you then!
Tuesdays with Dorie 
hunting for cranberry sales
I am so incredibly excited for this! I’ve bought all the ingredients and will probably make it tomorrow. I love that you can make some stuff ahead too!
I haven’t seen cranberries around here.
I found my cranberries in the freezer section at Walmart. Im making this today..I think it’s going to be wonderful!!
I saw some in Kroger for the first time in a long time just a few days ago.
I am not one of your members but just looked at this recipe today to bake it in the close future. I am looking forward to all of your wonderful posts and cakes!
I made the ‘cranberry jam’ with some berries I had in the freezer. It is so yummy. I just ate some on a toasted English Muffin.
I will probably have to make another batch of jam–it is that good. I do love cranberries!
I loved the jam, too! I kept sneaking little spoonfuls of it. I bet it’s great on toast and muffins.
Me too! I just made the cranberry jam and was testing it for sweetness…we can’t stop!
I better hurry and make the cake/shortbread part fast.
I made with last weekend with my baking club friends, and it might be the best thing I have ever made… ever! Instead of cranberries we did cinnamon/sugar sauteed (diced) apples.
Also, we tried a neat little trick of freezing the dough and grating it into the springform pan instead of pressing it in. The texture comes out perfect!
Grating the dough? That is very intriguing to me. Probably baking these on Thursday. Looking forward to making the jam.
I’ve grated shortbread dough before (works great)! – the recipe was in Baking with Julia and it was a Hungarian Rhubarb shortbread bar (layer of grated dough, rhubarb jam, then topped with another layer of grated dough. You form the dough into two balls, then freeze and grate. The baker/recipe was Gale Gand. This would work just as well – looks exactly like the same type of recipe.
I love the Hungarian rhubarb shortbread! I may use rhubarb here, as cranberries aren’t my favourite thing. Thanks for the reminder–I’ll probably grate the dough too.
:)
The shortbread crust is the best crust I’ve ever had. I wish I would have done the apple filling though. The cranberry/orange filling was way to tart. My family did not like it..
I think the key to this jam is tasting it and continuing to add sugar until it is no longer too tart. It’s impossible to know how tart/sweet your cranberries will be so Dorie just gives us a jumping off point. I definitely had to add extra sugar to mine to prevent it from being too tart. I think when it is warm it also tastes more sweet than after it is finished/cooled…so if you really want to make sure it isn’t too tart, add sugar until it tastes fine and then add a little bit more!
You nailed it – I added more sugar (a lot, I though) to the mixture after it was off the stove. When I cut a test slice – it was back to the “tart” stage. Strange… good, but definitely tart. I probably should have made it overly sweet to begin with. Or used raspberry jam. :)
Do you think you could use a premade cranberry sauce adapted somehow? Or just outta the can?
I am super busy this weekend… might need a short cut.
Dorie says that you can use your favorite jam (any flavor) in the playing around section so I’m sure store bought cranberry sauce would be fine. I will say this, if you love cranberries, you might just want to make your own because it took a total of about 7 minutes start to finish- so easy and so yummy!
I agree – quick, easy and super-good! :)
agreed. it was so fast to make and so few ingredients. totally worth it.
I’m using a pear or apple filling – I like cranberries in biscotti etc. but a whole cranberry jam will be too tart for me and the team.
I made this the other night and it was a split group. My dad and I loved it, my sister and her boyfriend thought it was way too tart. I’m planning on making another version today.
I think it might be interesting to try making the cranberry version and adding a layer of sweetened cream cheese to the mix. I’m not sure how it would work out but I can’t get the idea out of my head.
Did you add more sugar to the jam after it cooked? I did – a LOT. :) I figured, I’m not wasting a whole bag of cranberries for a jam that has this much tart flavor. I liked it as is, but know my office mates. Just kept adding sugar until it tasted like a “sweeter” jam. But any other flavor would be great – pear, apple, raspberry…
No, I actually just added the amount of sugar the recipe called for. I thought maybe I’d have to add more but I tasted the jam and loved it. I was also worried that there might be a slightly bitter flavor that cranberries sometimes have but that was missing as well.
Like I said, my dad and I thought it was delicious and we didn’t think it was tart at all, but my sister thought it was waaay too tart. So, I think it might be a matter of personal taste here. As a general rule I don’t love sour things, but I do love all things cranberry, so perhaps that helps? Or maybe my cranberries just weren’t as tart to begin with?
We loved this. I think next time I will add a bit more sugar to the cranberries though. My cake didn’t rise too much, was it supposed to be about the size of one cake layer? It tasted great.
My hubby and I are in the process of moving-all my cake pans and baking wonderful-ness will be in boxes until just before the rewind. See you then!