This cranberry cake is the perfect dessert for Christmas. Filled with fresh cranberries, zesty orange, this bundt cake is moist and delicious thanks to the addition of sour cream to the batter.
Cranberry and orange is one of my favorite flavor combinations at this time of the year. I love cranberry orange shortbread cookies, fresh cranberry sauce with the zest of orange and now I've added a delicious bundt cake to my repertoire.
Make this delicious Cranberry Orange Cream Cheese Cake this Christmas and it will be a hit with your family!
My mother-in-law first introduced me to this cake over Thanksgiving and it was an instant favorite among our entire family. Even my toddler went nuts for it!
The cake is similar in texture to a pound cake - moist yet a little dense. I love how the fresh cranberries taste in this, and I wouldn't recommend replacing them with dried ones.
The cream cheese allows the cake to stay perfectly moist and the cranberries and orange zest add the perfect zing. I dare you to take a bite of this and not go back for seconds (and thirds, and fourths!!).
I decided to pair mine with some freshly sugared cranberries which are an amazing addition to any cake. If you've never had them before you're in for a treat. These little guys pop in your mouth and have both a sweetness and tartness that I love. Plus, they are so festive looking don't you think?
If you would prefer to keep this as a breakfast or coffee cake, simply omit the glaze for a less-sweet version. It's delicious either way, but I'm always partial to a glaze on any cake! This can also be baked in a loaf pan instead of a bundt, but you may need to adjust the cooking time.
More Christmas Desserts You Might Enjoy
Cranberry Orange Christmas Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
- 8 oz cream cheese (1 brick)
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- zest of 2 oranges
- 4 eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- pinch salt
- 2 cups fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
Orange Glaze
- 1 ½ cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- zest of 1 orange
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
Instructions
For The Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Roughly chopped cranberries.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together butter, cream cheese, and sugar until creamy.
- When mixer is light in color and fluffy, add the zest. Set mixer to low and add in eggs, one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Fold in chopped cranberries.
- Grease cake pans. Pour batter into a bundt pan or divide evenly between two loaf pans. Place on a baking sheet, and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from oven. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool for about 10 mins.
- Remove cakes from pans, and let cool further on the wire rack.
- Drizzle with orange glaze while the cake is still warm. Serve at room temperature.
Orange Glaze:
- Whisk confectioners sugar, milk, orange zest and orange juice together in a small bowl. Add more juice or sugar to achieve the desired consistency.
Nutrition
Becky
Jenna, this really does sound wonderful! In your writeup you mentioned "...moist and delicious thanks to the addition of sour cream...". Sour cream is a wonderful ingredient in cakes, but did you mean the cream cheese? Can't wait to try this! Becky
Christine U Trombly
What is SO flour? Thanks. Love following you.
Jenna
Hi Christine! Do you mean AP flour? AP stands for all-purpose, as in plain flour.
Paula
This looks amazing! I can't wait to try it... It looks like the perfect Christmas dessert!