When fresh cranberries arrive in the stores I can't wait to start baking. This Orange and Cranberry Cake is so good. Sweet and tart and smells like a Christmas hug.
I love fresh cranberries, especially for baking. They add such an intense and happy pop of red to baked goods. This time of year, next time you run into the grocery store, grab a couple of bags 🙂
Everything you need to know about this recipe
As much as I love using fresh cranberries, frozen will do just fine in this recipe. Actually frozen cranberries are ingenious. If you happen to get over excited at the grocery store when you see fresh cranberries for the first time, know that you can throw that bag straight in the freezer and it will be good for months.
Fresh cranberries will keep refrigerated for several weeks. Frozen for several months.
This cake is made with fresh, raw or frozen cranberries. You don't need to cook them first. See this post for more info about baking with fresh cranberries.
More great cranberry recipes for cakes, cookies and baked goods for the holidays
- Cranberry apple muffins
- Cranberry ginger snack cake {vegan}
- Cranberry Cashew Breakfast Muffins {vegan, wholegrain}
- Cranberry Ginger Christmas Cookies
This cake is made with greek yogurt. A little trick I discovered several years ago. You can generally sub Greek yogurt anytime a recipe calls for sour cream. It helps cut the fat of the recipe a little without sacrificing texture or flavour. Of course, you can use sour cream here too. Personally, I rarely have sour cream in my fridge, but there is always a tub of plain Greek yogurt, I use it for so much. So this is one substitution I've learned to appreciate.
Making the cake
You are gonna need a few bowls. But measuring everything first will save you time in the end.
Start with softened butter and warm eggs. Take these out first and give them time to warm up before you start.
Zest the orange, set the zest aside in a small bowl. And toss with a little bit of flour - see tip below! . Save the orange, you can use the juice for the glaze.
Prepare the pan. I used a standard bundt pan for this recipe. Bundt pans always make me a bit nervous because of the all the edges and ridges, I'm always afraid the cake will stick and be ruined. It's happened to me more than once. I've found Pam On-Stick Baking Spray is the best thing for this. It really is wonderful stuff. And easy to find too. A must if you want to use a fancier pan like this, or this.
Prepare the cranberries. Pick through the berries. You can wash them first, but be sure they are very dry before starting with this step. Pick through, you will always find a soft or mushy one somewhere in the bag. Toss the clean and dry berries into a small bowl and toss with a bit of flour. This helps the berries "float" in the batter so they stay well distributed throughout the cake.
TIP: Tossing the berries with a bit of flour before adding them to the batter helps them remain evenly distributed throughout the cake, so they don't sink to the bottom of the cake pan. I often do this with orange and lemon zest too if I am using in a recipe.
Measure the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder and salt and whisk together in a small bowl. Set aside
Cream butter and sugar in a standmixer until light and fluffy. This will take a couple of minutes. Don't rush it. And make sure the butter is room temperature. Start on low speed and then once fully mixed, increase the speed until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time. Turn the mixer speed done a bit first. Fully mix in each egg, but don't beat too hard. Just mix it in fully. Add vanilla too.
Alternate flour, yogurt, flour. Fully mixing the after each addition, but again, not a high speed. You don't want to beat at this stage, you want a fluffy creamy batter. But if you over mix, your cake will be tough. Remove from the mixer.
Mix in berries and zest. BY HAND. Be gentle and just mix to evenly distribute throughout the batter. Pour into the prepared cake pan.
Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes.
Cool completely. Once the cake comes out of the oven, let it cool for about 15 minutes before you try to remove it from the cake pan. I like to use a thin paring knife to gently ease the cake from the center of the cake pan and around the edges. Place a serving plate, upside down and overtop the cake pan, then quickly and carefully flip everything over in one go. Cross your fingers! and the cake will slide right out onto the plate.
All to cool complete before adding glaze. Cool with the flat side of the cake facing down, just as you would serve it.
Serve. Drizzled with orange glaze.
Serving and storage
Leftover, glazed cake will keep at room temperature in a covered container for 2 days. It storing longer, keep refrigerated up to 5 days. You may find the cake becomes moister as it sits and the glaze will soak in, becoming less apparent.
I recommend making the cake the day you want to serve it, or prepare it ahead and freeze the cake only.
Freezing:
This Orange and Cranberry Cake freezes nicely. To freeze be sure the cake has completely cooled then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then foil. It will keep wrapped like this for 2-3 months.
Do not frost before freezing.
To thaw, take out and unwrap. Allow to sit at room temperature for 3-4 hours before serving. Once thawed, make glaze and drizzle over the cake.
Orange and Cranberry Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 12 oz fresh cranberries usually found in 12 oz bags
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 8 oz
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1 tablespoon orange zest zest from one orange, zest before juicing
Orange Glaze
- ¾ cups icing sugar
- 2 tbsps orange juice use the juice from the orange zested for the cake batter
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and generously spray bundt cake pan with baking cooking spray. This is cooking spray with flour mixed in.
- Prepare cranberries by tossing with 1 tablespoon of flour.
- Zest one orange and measure about 1 tablespoon of zest in a small bowl and toss with a teaspoon or so of flour. This helps prevent the zest from clumping together in the batter.
- Measure dry ingredients in a medium bowl - 2 cups all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
- In the large bowl of a stand mixer, cream together softened butter and sugar on low speed. Then increase speed and continue beating until light and fluffy. About 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at time, beating at low spead after each egg until well incorporated. Add vanilla.
- Mix in about half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Add yogurt, again mix in on low until just combined. Then finally, mix in remaining flour until just combined. Remove from stand mix and gently fold in the orange zest and cranberries.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 350 for about 50-55 minutes. A tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean when the cake is done. The top will be a beautiful golden brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
- Allow cake to cool slightly before removing from pan. Use a thin sharp knife to very gently loosen cake from around the center of pan and edges. Place a serving plater over the cake and carefully flip everything over. Cake should release easily. Allow the cake to continue to cool before drizzling with glaze.
- To make the glaze combine icing sugar, orange juice and a pinch of salt. Whisk until smooth and creamy. Add more sugar to thicken if necessary or more juice for a thinner glaze. I like glaze to be on the thin side. Serve
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