Baking

Cake

Place cranberries, caster sugar, lemon juice and water in a small saucepan.
Cook for about 5 minutes over a moderate heat until berries expand and are softened.
Crush berries using the back of a spoon until a thick puree and allow to cool.
Remove 2 tablespoons and push through a sieve. Set aside for icing.
Preheat oven to 180°C and line a large muffin tray or two small muffin trays with patty cases.
Cream butter and caster sugar until pale.
Add beaten eggs and cooled cranberry mixture.
Stir in sifted flour, salt and milk.
Spoon mixtures into paper cases and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden (12-15 minutes if using smaller muffin size).
Cool on a wire rack.

Icing

1½ cups	icing sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons	butter

Place butter and the reserved strained cranberry puree in a bowl.
Beat in icing sugar gradually until thick and smooth. Use to decorate cup cakes.

Cook frozen cranberries just until they pop. Longer cooking brings out their bitterness and makes them mushy.
Do not use aluminium cookware when cooking cranberries as the berries' acid reacts with aluminium and causes it to discolour. Use stainless steel, glass or porcelain.
Eliminate foaming and over boiling when cooking frozen cranberries by adding one teaspoon of butter.

Chop cranberries in a food processor, using quick on/off pulses, to save time.
When cooking, add a little salt or ¼ teaspoon baking soda or baking powder to cranberry sauce to reduce the amount of sugar needed and bring out the cranberry flavour.
Soak dried cranberries in warm water, orange juice or a liqueur for 20 to 30 minutes to get plumper berries which can be used as a substitute for frozen or fresh cranberries in many recipes.
For baked goods (i.e. muffins, cakes or slices), chop frozen cranberries and toss them with sugar before stirring into the batter to improve sweetening.