An orange-scented, cranberry-studded, super moist, glazed cake to celebrate the season! You are going to fall head over heels for this amazing bundt cake. Treat yourself and your loved ones for the holidays. 🎁

Hands down, this is one of my all time favorite cakes. Knowing how I love cake, that’s saying a heck of a lot! I discovered it last year at one of my cookbook club get-togethers.

Have I mentioned my cookbook club?

For the ten ladies in the group, I can speak for most of them when I say without a doubt that this is a highlight of each of our months. Here’s how it goes in a COVID-free year:

Each month there is a host. The host picks a cookbook and passes it around to the other members. We each pick a recipe before passing it along. On the designated evening we arrive at the host’s house, culinary creations in hand, and sit down to a feast.

Besides the obvious appeal of a bunch of 40 and 50 something moms getting a much needed night out, we get to taste 10 amazing dishes, only having had to make one. Additionally, it’s a great way to “preview” a cookbook. We get to try the recipes and see if it’s something we’ll like before committing. I’ve got a lot of cookbooks! So being able to “try before I buy” is a definite perk!

It was on one of these nights that I decided to make this cranberry bundt cake as my contribution to the meal. It was winter, and the idea of a moist, cranberry-studded cake, flavored with orange zest and covered in a sweet glaze, was too good to flip past.

It was a hit with the group! And I just have to share the recipe with you all since I think it will be the perfect cake for your holiday celebration.

So pretty, so festive, and so utterly delicious… it has become one of our family’s favorites, and my guess is it will soon be yours, too!

Happy holidays!

(As a footnote, the original recipe is Sarah Copeland’s and is from her “Every Day is Saturday” cookbook. I have slightly adapted this recipe to balance the amount of cranberries.)

Tips and Tricks in making this Cranberry Bundt Cake

• Don’t be put off by the amount of butter in the cake! 3 sticks seems like a lot, but it makes a big cake with lots of servings. You could certainly halve the recipe and bake it in a standard loaf pan instead, but the cake also freezes well so you can save leftovers for later.
• Bitters are often used in making cocktails, but you don’t need to make a special trip to the liquor store. You can buy bitters in grocery stores in their drink/cocktail mixers section. There are many different flavors of bitters, and the original recipe doesn’t designate what type to use, but I suggest angostura bitters, which is very common.
• Look for a fine almond flour, not coursely ground. If you have nut allergies you could substitute with more all-purpose flour instead.

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Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Cranberry Bundt Cake

Slightly adapted from Sarah Copeland’s “Every Day is Saturday”

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 3 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 cups 400g sugar
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 5 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 dashes bitters preferably angostura
• 2 cups 280g all-purpose flour
• 1 cup 120g almond flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup 60 mL fresh orange juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ¼ cup 60 mL heavy cream, or substitute plain yogurt
• 1 ½ cups 150 g fresh or frozen cranberries

Glaze

• 1 ½ cups 180 g powdered sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons cream or half and half
• ½ vanilla bean seeds scraped from the pod, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract*
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a non-stick bundt pan generously and dust with flour.
• Beat together the butter, sugar and zest until light and fluffy using the paddle attachment, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down after each addition. Add vanilla and bitters and beat again.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda and salt. Add about a third to the butter mixture, then add the orange and lemon juices and mix again. Add another third of the flour, then add the cream. Finally add the remaining flour and mix just until combined. Fold in the cranberries.
• Pour the batter into the pan and place it on a baking sheet. Bake for about 1 hour and test. The cake should pull away from the sides slightly and feel springy to the touch. It could take up to 10 or 15 more minutes. Once cooked through, cool for 20 minutes before turning out onto a rack and cooling completely.
• Make the glaze by whisking together the sugar, cream, vanilla and salt. Drizzle glaze over the cooled cake and let set before serving.

Tips & Tricks

• Cake keeps stored at room temperature for 3 days. It can also be frozen for 1 month.
• The flavor that fresh vanilla bean imparts is unparalleled, and if there is a time to splurge on using one, I might argue a holiday cake, in particular this holiday cake, is a great occasion. However, it will still be delicious should you decide to use vanilla extract in its place.

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