Cranberry-Orange Snacking Cake

This is not the airy, sugary kind of cake you'd typically stick a candle in for birthdays — this cake satisfies in a completely different way. Homey and comforting, it boasts amoist, muffinlike crumb, is studded with cranberries and topped with a crunch of brown-sugared walnuts. Like the most delicious holiday candle, it's perfumed with orange, cinnamon and cloves.

Topping

1⁄ cup raw walnuts, finely

2

chopped

3 tablespoons dark brown

sugar

1 teaspoon mild olive oil, or

another neutral-tasting oil 1⁄ teaspoon ground

4

cinnamon

1 pinch kosher salt

Cake

2 oranges

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (or 1 cup each regular whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour)

1 1⁄ teaspoons baking powder

2

1⁄ teaspoon baking soda

2

1⁄ teaspoon kosher salt

2

1⁄ teaspoon ground

2

cinnamon

1⁄ teaspoon ground cloves

4

2⁄ cup pure maple syrup

3

1⁄ cupmild olive oil, or

3 another neutral-tasting oil, plus more for brushing the pan

2 large eggs, at room

temperature

3⁄ cup fresh cranberries,

4

halved if large

1⁄ cup raw walnuts, coarsely

2

chopped

Instructions: Heat the oven to

350 degrees with the rack in themiddle. Brush an 8-by-8inch square baking dish with oil.

Make the topping: In a small bowl, combine the walnuts, brown sugar, oil, cinnamon and salt, and work it together with your fingers until it is blended.

Make the cake: In a small bowl, finely grate the zest of the oranges until you have 2 teaspoons zest. Squeeze 1⁄

3 cup of juice from the oranges, and save whatever is left of the fruit for another use.

In amedium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves. In another medium bowl, whisk together the just-squeezed juice, zest, maple syrup, oil and eggs. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in two batches, stirring just enough to combine but not overmixing. Stir in the cranberries and the walnuts, then pour the batter into the baking dish.

Sprinkle the topping over the batter and bake, 30 to 35 minutes, until the cake is nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5minutes or until warm to the touch, then cut into 12 pieces and serve.

Makes 12 servings

Storage: The cake will keep, tightly wrapped at room temperature, for up to 3 days. From nutritionist and cookbook author Ellie Krieger, Washington Post

TomMcCorkle / For theWashington Post Don’t stick a candle in it — this snack cake is more like a muffin.