Orange-Cranberry Agave Bundt Cake

A well known scenario: Your hubby asks you at the last minute 'What cake are you making for so-n-so's house?' and your reply is 'What cake?' Uh-oh. Time to pull out all the stops and open up a cake mix! That is right, a cake mix. However, I could not simply bake a cake mix, I had to make it my own and feel like I am making something a bit healthier so let's toss in some OJ and for a sweetener, not sugar but my new buddy, agave nectar. Bake this and fall in love.

Ingredients for cake:

Spray to mist/flour pan (baker's joy or Pam for baking)

1 yellow cake mix with pudding

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)

1 tablespoon light agave nectar

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (Madagascar)

1 cup sweetened dried cranberries (finely chopped)

Ingredients for glaze:

agave nectar or

1 cup of confectioners' sugar, sifted (yes, you must)

3 tablespoons water or 1% milk

orange zest

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Mist the bundt pan and set aside. Mist a knife with the spray and chop the cranberries into small pieces. I say a cup but if you want lots and lots of cranberry in there, you go ahead and toss in more. Now place a tablespoon of the cake mix into a bowl along with the cranberry pieces and mix until the berries are coated*

2. Place the following into a large mixing bowl: cake mix, OJ, oil, agave nectar, and eggs. Mix on low speed for 1 minute or so. Scrape down the sides and mix on medium to medium-high for 2-3 minutes. The batter will look light and well mixed. Fold in the cranberries and pour into the bundt pan.

3. Bake until a lovely shade of golden brown and the cake starts to pull away from the sides, about 43-47 minutes. Remove and place on rack to cool. Carefully run knife around edge after 25 minutes or so , invert and allow to rest until completely cool.

4. Concurrently, you can decide what you want to do for the glaze: You can either lightly drizzle nectar over it and top with zest OR mix the confectioner's sugar and water/milk and top that with the zest. Your choice.

*Why coat the cranberries with cake mix? It helps to keep them from all sinking to the bottom during baking.