Cranberry Cake with Orange Glaze
Cranberry cake with orange glaze is a light and delicious dessert option for the holiday season. Not too heavy, and not too sweet with the lovely festive flavor of cranberries!
So much planning is necessary for holiday meals, that making something ahead of time is always an asset.
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If you love cranberries as much as I do, and love the sweet combination with oranges, then I highly recommend that you try this cranberry cake recipe.
Many cranberry cake recipes are heavy and loaded with sugar, whereas this one is light, but also light on the sugar! Feel free to add a bit more sugar if you have a big sweet tooth, but I have never had anyone complain that this cake needs any more sweetness.
Many people think that cranberries are only good for cranberry sauce, and they are fabulous as a sauce, especially this one.
Orange Cranberry Sauce with Grand Marnier
However, don’t feel restricted to only a sauce when it comes to these beautiful berries! This is the best recipe for muffins, by the way and when I don’t have fresh cranberries, I use dried. Make this delicious Nantucket Cranberry Pie and use them in a bread and butter pudding , or this wonderfully sweet and tart cranberry lemonade!
Cranberry Cake with Orange Glaze
adapted from my orange cake recipe serves 12
Make the Cranberry Cake Batter
Place the cranberries in a bowl and toss with a little flour, which will stop them from falling to the bottom of the cake.
Beat the eggs and sugar until they are light and fluffy.
Sift the flour with the baking powder then add to the mixture in the bowl a little at a time along with the softened butter. Continue to mix until completely blended, then stir in the yogurt.
Toss in the cranberries and vanilla and stir to combine.
Now put the batter into the prepared cake tin.
Bake the Cake
Place the cake in the center of the preheated oven and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Allow to cool for about ten minutes before removing from the pan and placing on a cooling rack.
Glaze and Decorate the Cranberry Cake
While the cake is cooling (before taking it out of the pan) put the sugar and orange juice for the glaze into a small pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 6 or 7 minutes or until starts to become a sticky glaze.
(Decorative Cranberries – if you want to decorate the top with a few glazed and sugared cranberries, it’s easy! Before putting the glaze on the cake, drop a few berries into the pot to cover with glaze, and remove immediately. Place the cranberries on a silicone sheet or flat plate to set. If you want sugared cranberries, simply roll them in sugar after dipping in the glaze.)
Pour and brush the glaze over the top of the cake while it is still warm. I place a plate under the cooling rack to catch any drips.
When cool, place on a cake stand or serving plate and decorate as desired.
I used glazed and sugared cranberries with 3 orange leaves.
Enjoy!
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Cranberry Cake with Orange Glaze
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3 eggs
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- ⅓ cup butter (softened)
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt (plain)
- 2 ½ cups cranberries (fresh, see notes)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze:
- 2 oz juice of an orange (half an organic orange)
- 2 Tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ (175℃) and grease and flour an 8" springform pan.
- Toss the cranberries in a little flour and set aside.
- Place the sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy.
- Sift the flour with the baking powder then add to the mixture in the bowl a little at a time along with the softened butter. Continue to mix until completely blended, then stir in the yogurt.
- Add the cranberries and vanilla and stir until evenly combined, then put the batter into the prepared tin.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes (depending on your oven), but test with a cake tester or skewer to make sure the cranberry cake is done before removing from the oven. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then remove the side of the springform pan.
Glaze and decorate the cake:
- While the cake is cooling (before taking it out of the pan) put the sugar and orange juice for the glaze into a small pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 6 or 7 minutes or until starts to become a sticky glaze.
- (Decorative Cranberries – if you want to decorate the top with a few glazed and sugared cranberries, it’s easy! Before putting the glaze on the cake, drop a few berries into the pot to cover with glaze, and remove immediately. Place the cranberries on a silicone sheet or flat plate to set. If you want sugared cranberries, simply roll them in sugar after dipping in the glaze.)
- Pour and brush the glaze over the top of the cake while it is still warm. I place a plate under the cooling rack to catch any drips
- When cool, place on a cake stand or serving plate and decorate as desired. I used glazed and sugared cranberries with 3 orange leaves.
Notes
- The glaze is optional if you want a naked cake, it is also good plain. Or else you can frost the cake with an orange frosting like this one (make half the recipe).
- Frozen cranberries don't work well.
- if you have a 12 oz bag of cranberries, just reserve come cranberries for the decoration.
Nutrition
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I made this for the first time yesterday and it won’t be the last. Tastes and looks great and is also very easy to prepare.
Love to hear it, Kelly! I do love it, too! Thank you!
How would I substitute dried cranberries? I’ve made this cake at least a half dozen times and it’s delicious! Everyone loves it, and it’s perfect for , well, any occasion, or no occasion at all. I’ve never had trouble finding fresh cranberries until now. Rehydrate? How do I weigh/measure the amount?
Hi Lexi, I’m so sorry about the delayed response, but I was traveling in Italy for 3 weeks and had no computer. You can use the dried cranberries as is or you can rehydrate with your choice of hot liquid (water, tea, orange juice, Grand Marnier?) I would just eyeball the amount, to be honest, as the cranberry amount isn’t critical. Add as much or as little as you like (I’d probably go with about 6 oz or so.
1. Where in the recipe is oil mentioned? I see only butter.
2. Where in the recipe are the instructions for applying the glaze? I only see them in the discussion which means I must cut & paste to make an accurate printable recipe.
It sounds delicious!
Hi Sue,
It sounds like you need to re-print the recipe as I had to update it. There is no oil, only butter. I had instructions on glazing the cranberries in the notes, but I edited the recipe card to add that into the directions as well as the glazing the cake instructions so it should be good to go now. So sorry for the confusion, it is a delicious cake! :) CC
Hi Christina,
You specify a spring form pan. I don’t have one so what other pan do you suggest? Can’t wait to make this. Nancy Visconti
Oh dear, I’m not sure it will work as well in another pan. You could try in a 9″ cake tin, but honestly, since I’ve never tried it myself, I’m not making any promises on how it will turn out. Good luck, Nancy!
Hello again Christina, I can’t find in the recipe the amount of cranberries needed for the cake? And can you use frozen berries?
Thank you kindly,
Sandra
So sorry! Fixed, and no, I wouldn’t recommend using frozen as there are is so much fruit in the cake, it slows down the baking so much and then it doesn’t bake properly. If you defrost them and then add them, they’re mushy, so no, I wouldn’t use frozen.