10 servings; 15 min preparation; 50-60 min cooking time.

Happy Monday, my favorite foodies! I’ve been away for a while, but I’ve missed cooking and writing so much.  It’s a good moment to start with something sweet and delicious.

Since it’s autumn already, I’ve decided to use seasonal flavors like cranberries. It’s dark and colder outside, so I can’t imagine a better time to bake a cake. The whole house smells so delicious and I just forgot about the rain outside.

Ingredients

• 200 g cream cheese
• 120 g butter
• 120 g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon zest

• 230 g all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

• 100 g walnuts
• 100 g dried cranberries, soaked in water and 1 tbsp rum (optional)

Preparations

Put the dried cranberries in a bowl with water. Add 1 tbsp rum. This is of course completely optional.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/375 degrees F. Cover a baking form with parchment paper and set aside.

Whisk the cream cheese and bitter in a bowl. You can do that by hand or use a mixer. Add sugar and continue whisking. Add the eggs one by one. Whisk until fully incorporated and until there are no lumps.

Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract. Whisk for a couple more minutes. Set aside.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the dry ingredients to the cream cheese mixture in three parts. The batter gets thick, so use a spoon at the end.

Chop the walnuts as fine as you wish. You can also use a food processor to do that. Drain the cranberries from the water and add them to the batter together with the walnuts. Mix well.

Transfer the batter to the baking dish. Bake in the oven for 50 to 60 min or until the toothpick comes clean. Let the cake cool a little before you slice it. Enjoy!