All-One Holiday Bundt Cake

I was looking for something to make for a little holiday celebration tonight with friends and I settled on this because I had an apple and some cranberries to use up and it was a great recipe the first time I made it, plus I didn't post the recipe last time so I got a blog post out of it too.

This cake is great because it has all sorts of holiday flavors going on -- pumpkin, cranberry, apple, walnuts and ginger. But despite all of those flavors competing, nothing seems to get overwhelmed -- instead it all seems to just flow together with wonderful, mild winter flavors. It has a great spicy flavor that seems calmed down a bit by the pumpkin and apple. Since it's a bundt cake, it also mixes up very easily and quickly -- from the mixer to the oven in about 10-15 minutes.

Dorie used pecans in her cake, and I used them last time, I was out today though, so I substituted walnuts. She also suggests making a maple syrup icing to take the fall/winter theme just a little further. I just dusted it with powdered sugar though since that was the easiest thing to do. I also ended up only coarsely chopping the apples, instead of finely chopping them which probably made the second cake just a touch less moist than the first one. On the other hand, it also gives you large chunks of apple to sink your teeth into since the apples were mostly an undertone of flavor last time.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
1 1/4 sticks (10 tbsp) unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 large apple, cored and finely chopped
1 cup cranberries, halved or coarsely chopped
1 cup pecans (or walnuts), coarsely chopped

Confectioners sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9 to 10 inch (12 cup) Bundt pan.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and ground ginger if you're using it (not the grated ginger.)

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and both sugars together at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the pumpkin, chopped apple and grated ginger, if you're using it -- don't be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Still on low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. With a rubber spatula, stir in the cranberries and pecans. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the rubber spatula.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, then cool to room temp on the rack.

Dust the cake with the confectioners' sugar just before serving.