It's the time of year for family time, cranberry sauce, a parade full of giant balloons, expanding waist bands and thankfulness. So boy, do we have a recipe for you.

It starts off with some ingredients.

Which turn into a beautiful batter.

The cranberry sauce makes for a beauiful color, and a great taste in the final product. 

Be sure to carefully swirl in the cranberry sauce. 

After it bakes, you can lightly drizzle some glaze on the aromatic cake. If you don't have a pastry bag to do this with, don't fret! We loaded up a plastic bag with glaze, cut the corner off and drizzled away, and it worked really well!

Garnish away, and voila! A beautiful addition to any meal of thanks! (Or any meal in general!)

Ingredients

Cake

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (1/2 pint) light sour cream

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon orange zest

1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans

8-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce, divided

Glaze and Garnish (Optional)

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice        

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Toasted pecan pieces 

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350° F. Lightly grease and flour 10-inch 12 cup bundt-style pan. Or use no-stick cooking spray with flour.

2) To prepare the cake: In a large bowl, beat together the butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

3) In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt. Add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Add the sour cream, orange juice, orange zest, and the toasted pecan pieces.

4) Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. To swirl the cranberry sauce, drop out half of the sauce by tablespoonfuls onto the batter and use butter knife to swirl it throughout the batter.  Tip: Do not swirl the cranberry sauce too deep or too close to the edge of the pan.  Top with remaining batter. Swirl the remaining cranberry sauce on top. Smooth over the batter with a spatula.

5) Bake the cake for 40 minutes and tent with foil to prevent overbrowning. Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes. To check for doneness, insert a cake tester or toothpick until it comes out clean. The cake will be a light golden brown all over.  Cool cake in pan on wire rack, 1 hour, then loosen carefully. Invert onto a cake serving plate.

6) Cool completely before glazing. Drizzle lightly with glaze or sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and garnish with pecans.

Note: To toast the pecans, place pecan halves on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 2-4 minutes or until lightly browned.

For glaze, use a whisk to combine ingredients until well mixed. Thin glaze with more juice, if necessary. Scoop glaze into small self-locking bag. Snip a tiny hole in one corner of the sealed bag. Drizzle on cake.

Yield: 1 large bundt-style cake, 16 servings

1 serving provides approximately:
220 calories
4g protein
33g carbohydrates
0g dietary fiber
9g fat (4.5 g saturated fat)
45mg cholesterol
24mcg folate
1mg iron
160mg sodium