Cranberry-Maple Pecan Breakfast Cake

Meet the first of many Joanne Chang recipe notes you will see on the blog! Joanne Chang is a brilliant pastry chef out of Boston and her book, 'Flour,' is packed with delicious desserts that are packed with flavor. I originally chose this recipe as a good one to share in the fall months because the pecans and maple gave me fall vibes. But I discovered that the cranberries make it almost more of a Christmasy cake! However, you do eat cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving is in the fall so you can just categorize this as a September-December morning treat lol. If you're planning on having family or friends stay with you for a few days at a time during the holidays, this could be a fun morning treat to make ahead of time that will last a few mornings and taste great with coffee or tea.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp. maple syrup
• 1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted and chopped
• 1 1/3 cup cake flour
• 3/4 granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup buttermilk, nonfat (I used regular)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup of fresh or frozen cranberries (I used frozen and they worked great), chopped
• Maple Glaze
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 3 tbsp. maple syrup

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 350F and butter a 9-by-5 inch loaf pan. Place one strip of parchment paper perpendicular to the pan so that the flaps of parchment paper are hanging off the side of the long side of the pan. This makes it a piece of cake (lol) lifting the breakfast loaf out of the pan without anything sticking! 
2. In a small saucepan, stir together the maple and pecans on medium heat for 3-4 minutes until the pecans absorb the syrup. Pour onto a plate before moving onto the next step to prevent the pecans from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan
3. Using a standing mixer, beat together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and butter for 3-4 minutes and set aside
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. Pour half of it into the flour and butter mixture in the standing mixer. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute until the mixture turns fluffy and pale. Stop the mixer to scrape the sides of the bowl and then add the second half of the buttermilk mixture into the flour-butter mixture, and beat on medium speed until thoroughly combined
5. Fold the cranberries and maple pecans into the batter and pour into the prepared loaf pan
6. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the middle of the cake springs back and it's a nice golden brown on top
7. To make the maple glaze, whisk or use a fork to rapidly stir the sugar and maple together until it turns into a thick, smooth glaze
8. Allow the cake to cook for 30 minutes before topping with the maple glaze. Decorate with pecans and cranberries on top and enjoy!