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Home » Creative Recipes » Desserts » Cakes » Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake

Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake

Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake

BY: Michele
PUBLISHED: Nov 28, 2014
UPDATED: Jan 20, 2020
4 Reviews / 4 Average
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Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake

Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake is an easy homemade moist white cake with orange zest that is made from scratch with fresh cranberries. This cake is perfect for a Christmas or holiday party.

Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake is an easy homemade moist white cake with orange zest that is made from scratch with fresh cranberries.

This cake screams Christmas to me!  Maybe it’s the cranberries or the fluffy moist white cake with the hint of orange flavor. Maybe it’s the laughter and fun everyone is having while we serve this cake. But there is something about this cake that represents the holidays to me.

Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake is an easy homemade moist white cake with orange zest that is made from scratch with fresh cranberries.

If you have fresh cranberries left over from Thanksgiving, this recipe is a great way to use them up.

Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake is an easy homemade moist white cake with orange zest that is made from scratch with fresh cranberries.

This cranberry cake recipe is more moist and light and fluffy and others out there.  In my first attempt, the cake was too dry and dense like a shortcake.

So I created my own cake recipe based on my tried and true white cake recipe and added orange juice, orange zest and cranberries.

Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake is an easy homemade moist white cake with orange zest that is made from scratch with fresh cranberries.

One tip I recommend is tossing the fresh cranberries in a little bit of flour so they are coated in flour when you add them to the batter. This prevents the cranberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake pan.  You could double this recipe to make a layer cake.

For which occasion will you make this Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake?

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Recipe

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4 from 4 votes

Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake

Homemade Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake is an easy homemade moist white cake with orange zest that is made from scratch with fresh cranberries. This cake is perfect for a Christmas or holiday party.
Course Cake, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Cranberry Cake, Cranberry Christmas Cake
Prep Time 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes minutes
Total Time 40 minutes minutes
Servings 12
Calories 207kcal
Author Michele @ Flavor Mosaic

Ingredients

  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour plus more for dusting the pans
  • 1/2 cup whole milk at room temperature
  • 3 large egg whites at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons orange juice
  • 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar plus 2 tablespoons to coat cranberries
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 3/4th stick, softened but still cool
  • 1 tablespoon orange zest
  • 6 ounces or 1-1/4 cups or 1/2 of a 12 ounce bag fresh cranberries
  • 2 tablespoons flour
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Instructions 

  • Set oven rack in middle position.
  • Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; or line the bottom with parchment or waxed paper. Spray the paper, or you can dust the pan with flour, and invert pan and rap sharply to remove excess flour.
  • Pour milk, egg whites, and orange juice into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.
  • Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.
  • Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.
  • Toss the cranberries with 2 tablespoons flour. To reduce tartness, also add a tablespoon of sugar to the cranberries and toss until the cranberries are coated with both flour and sugar. Add cranberries to batter.
  • Pour batter in the prepared 9" pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan wall and smooth top. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted
  • in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.
  • Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Invert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely,

Nutrition

Calories: 207kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 116mg | Potassium: 115mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 200IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 1mg

For another cake recipe idea try my Moist Chocolate Layer Cake.

Moist Chocolate Layer Cake

 

Or how about my Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Pumpkin-Cake-Cream-Cheese-Frosting

 

 

Filed Under: Bake, Budget-friendly, Cakes, Christmas, Christmas-Cakes, Cranberry, Cranberry Desserts, Desserts, Featured Photos, Fruit Desserts, Gourmet, Make Ahead, Pot Luck, Quick and Easy, Resized Slider Photos, Special Occasion, Sweet, Thanksgiving Tagged With: cake, cranberries, orange juice, orange zest

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Reader Interactions

Michele F - Owner / Founder / Creator / Blogger at Flavor Mosaic
Michele

Hi, I’m Michele Feuerborn, wife, and dog Mom, with 20+ years experience as a home cook. I’m the Founder of Flavor Mosaic, as well as the author and content creator. I share fast, easy, flavorful recipes with bold flavors, featuring Instant Pot and Air Fryer recipes and Italian, Southern and Mexican cuisines.  Contact: [email protected].

Comments

  1. Lexi says

    December 1, 2014 at 4:01 pm

    Your cake looks luscious and I would love to make it this Christmas! I have two questions though. Firstly, do you know if I can substitute gluten free flour for the cake flour? Secondly, in country Australia we don’t have access to fresh cranberries – can I substitute say fresh cherries (as it’s cherry season here) or can I reconstitute dried cranberries using hot water or something else? TIA

    Reply
    • Michele says

      December 1, 2014 at 4:07 pm

      Hi Lexi, I am not a gluten free baker, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use gluten free flour. Maybe someone else will comment about the gluten free flour also. I think the cake would be wonderful with fresh cherries.

      Reply
      • Lexi says

        December 1, 2014 at 5:04 pm

        Thank you Michele! Some things convert well, others should never be gluten free 😉 I shall try it with cherries!

        Reply
  2. Christine says

    December 4, 2014 at 11:40 pm

    Fluffy moist melt-in-your-mouth cake…cranberries, this looks so delicious! I’m ready for a bite! I’d be honore if you would link up at #FoodieFridays with this tasty-looking cake!

    Reply
  3. Mila says

    December 5, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    The cake looks really so good, yummy and beautiful! It definitely can be a sweet star on the holiday table! 🙂
    Cheers!
    Mila

    Reply
  4. Joy @ Joy Love Food says

    December 5, 2014 at 3:28 pm

    This looks and sounds delicious! I love baking with fresh cranberries, pinning! Visiting from The Weekend Social 🙂

    Reply
  5. Amanda says

    January 21, 2015 at 11:26 am

    I tried this recipe but am woder ing if there is a typo in the recipe – the cake was so tart I couldn’t eat it. I’m thinking there needs to be more sugar in it – thoughts?

    Reply
    • Michele says

      January 21, 2015 at 12:41 pm

      Hi Amanda, I appreciate you providing the feedback after you made the recipe. I’m sorry it was too tart for you. The amount of sugar is standard for a typical white cake. While it is not a super sweet cake, it should not be that tart. However, I have modified the recipe to reduce the amount of cranberries (I like a lot of cranberries but others may not), and added another 2 tablespoons of sugar to toss the cranberries in to coat them in sugar. However, feel free to add even more sugar if you like.

      Reply
  6. Nancy Hester says

    December 13, 2019 at 10:00 am

    Can this be made ahead and stored for a day or two?

    Reply
    • Michele says

      December 13, 2019 at 1:57 pm

      Hi Nancy, yes, you can make it a day or two in advance. It will be fine.

      Reply
4 from 4 votes (4 ratings without comment)

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Michele F - Owner / Founder / Creator / Blogger at Flavor Mosaic

Hi, I’m Michele, a home cook with 20+ years experience. I created Flavor Mosaic as a place to share our favorite fast, easy, and flavorful creative recipes with bold flavors, including Southern, Mexican, Tex-Mex, and Instant Pot recipes.
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