Buttery, dense, and moist! This easy, vintage recipe is a holiday classic!
Table of Contents
🗝️ Key takeaways
- This cranberry pound cake recipe has the best balance of sweet and tart flavors with the dense, moist texture you love.
- A super easy Christmas dessert, this is the perfect cake to serve during casual winter or holiday season get-togethers.
- Swap the loaf pan for a bundt pan to create a stunning orange cranberry bundt cake!
Every bite of this Christmas-y cranberry pound cake is bursting with fresh cranberries, zingy orange zest, and buttery vanilla flavor.
Whether enjoyed as a dessert or sneakily eaten for breakfast, this delicious pound cake is always a crowd-pleaser!
🧾 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
📖 Variations
- Use brown sugar instead of white sugar—the molasses will add a hint of caramel flavor to your orange cranberry pound cake.
- This cranberry cake recipe calls for unsalted butter, but salted butter works, too. Just leave out the extra pinch of salt.
- If you can’t find fresh cranberries at a local grocery store, use canned or frozen cranberries in a pinch. Make sure you thoroughly drain canned cranberries before adding them to the cake batter, though.
- Not in the mood for orange flavor? Replace the orange zest with lemon zest for a different citrus twist.
- You can substitute full-fat plain yogurt or Greek yogurt for the sour cream if you like—whatever you have in your fridge will work!
- Make your cake more decorative by sprinkling dried cranberries and drizzling melted white chocolate chips on top!
- Amp up the citrus flavor of your cranberry orange pound cake by topping it with a lemon or orange glaze.
- Leftovers? Make a rockin' French toast with the pound cake slices!
🔪 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed. Then, mix in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, alternating with the sour cream.
- Fold in the cranberries and orange zest.
- Spoon the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake.
🔪 Equipment
- 9x5-inch loaf pan
- mixing bowls
- electric mixer
- instant-read thermometer
🥫 How to store leftovers
Store leftover cranberry pound cake in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to three days.
I don't like to refrigerate leftover cake because it dries it out more quickly.
However, to freeze pound cake, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then in a layer of aluminum foil—or store it in an airtight container. Freeze for up to three months.
Thaw frozen pound cake in the fridge before serving. You can pop a slice in the microwave for five to ten seconds if you like to enjoy it warm.
💭 Things to know
Expert Tip: Always use room temperature ingredients (unless specified otherwise). If they're too cold, you won’t be able to cream the butter and it will be tricky to blend the eggs and sour cream into a smooth mixture.
- For the best results, don’t use low-fat sour cream. You need full-fat sour cream to get the right consistency in this cranberry cake recipe.
- You can use a handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment to mix the ingredients. Either works fine!
- Mix the batter on low speed until just combined. Overmixing the batter will activate the gluten in the all-purpose flour and create a tough cake.
- To prevent the cranberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake, lightly coat them in flour in a medium bowl before folding them into the batter.
- Use an instant-read thermometer to tell when your cranberry pound cake is done baking. The center of the cake should read 210 degrees F.
- Allow the pound cake to cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes before transferring it to the wire rack. The hot cake will crumble if you try to remove it from the pan immediately.
- Slide a butter knife along the sides of the cake to help release it from the loaf pan before inverting the cake into a cooling rack.
👩🍳 FAQs
I don't like it that way. You need to use fresh fruit in this recipe because it provides a burst of tart juice in every bite and helps make a moist crumb. Dried berries can make your cake taste too dry. Feel free to sprinkle some dried cranberries on top of the cake, though!
Absolutely. You don’t even need to thaw frozen cranberries before adding them to the cake batter—just toss them in!
You know cranberry pound cake is ready when a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs.
To be more precise, insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the cake. The cake is done baking when it reaches an internal temperature of 210 degrees F.
There are lots of ways to garnish your cake. Drizzle melted white chocolate or a lemon or orange glaze on top. Sprinkle your cake with chopped pecans, dried cranberries, or sugared cranberries if you’re feeling fancy. Make delicious cake even more decadent by slathering it with cream cheese frosting!
📚 Related recipes
- Craving a more traditional recipe? Try Classic Cranberry Bread—it’s made with tart cranberries, pecans, orange zest, and an orange glaze.
- Moist and dense with a tangy vanilla flavor, Buttermilk Pound Cake is one of my all-time favorite pound cake recipes—an oldie-but-goodie!
- Cranberry Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies are packed with tasty flavor and mouthwatering textures—and then dipped in white chocolate!
📞 The last word
I always pop several bags of cranberries in the freezer when they are available. I love that tangy bite they give to scones, breads, and cakes all year long.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Cranberry Pound Cake
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 1-½ cups butter, soft room temperature
- 2 -½ cups sugar
- 6 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sour cream room temperature, temperature
- 1-½ cups cranberries, chopped
- zest of 1 orange
Instructions
- Grease and flour (or use baker's release spray) a loaf pan. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Gather the ingredients and make sure they are at room temperature before beginning.
- Cream butter and sugar with the mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add eggs to butter mixture, one at a time, beating well after each.
- Beat in vanilla and orange zest.
- Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.
- With the mixer running on low speed add the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream.
- Beat on low speed until you have a smooth, thick batter but don't over-mix.
- Stir in cranberries.
- Spoon into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 65-70 minutes for a bundt pan or 40 -50 minutes for loaves. It will read about 210℉ on an instant read thermometer when perfectly done.
- Remove from the oven and let cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Carefully run a knife down the sides of the pan to separate the cake from the pan.
- Turn the pan over and let the cake slip out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Dust with powdered sugar.
Notes
- All ingredients should be at room temperature unless otherwise indicated in the instructions.
- For the best results, don’t use low-fat sour cream. You need full-fat sour cream to get the right consistency in this cranberry cake recipe.
- You can use a handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment to mix the ingredients. Either works fine!
- Mix the batter on low speed until just combined. Overmixing the batter will activate the gluten in the all-purpose flour and create a tough cake.
- To prevent the cranberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake, lightly coat them in flour in a medium bowl before folding them into the batter.
- Use an instant-read thermometer to tell when your cranberry pound cake is done baking. The center of the cake should read 210 degrees F.
- Allow the pound cake to cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes before transferring it to the wire rack. The hot cake will crumble if you try to remove it from the pan immediately.
- Slide a butter knife along the sides of the cake to help release it from the loaf pan before inverting the cake into a cooling rack.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
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