Cranberry Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This cranberry orange cake with cream cheese frosting is bursting with holiday flavors. Perfectly moist with the softest cake crumb – the combination of sweet oranges and tart cranberries makes it perfect for Christmas.
It’s not even Christmas until you’ve had some sort of orange cranberry baked good. Am I right? The flavors and scent of those two fruits together just sings! Have you tried our orange cranberry bliss bars?? Or our cranberry orange bubble bread (perfect for Christmas morning!)?? Now you can try this orange cranberry cake too!
Oh hi there! My name’s Fiona and I’m so excited to meet you! I blog over at Just So Tasty, and today’s my first guest post on Oh Sweet Basil.
I love baking, eating cake, and listening to country music. (Is that embarrassing? The country music part I mean???) And making tasty treats for the people I love is one of my absolute favorite things.
I was so excited when Carrian asked me to share recipes on Oh Sweet Basil, so today I’m starting off with this easy Cranberry Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. It’s a perfectly moist vanilla sheet cake infused with fresh oranges and dotted with tart cranberries. Then it’s frosted with tangy cream cheese icing and decorated with sugared cranberries and orange zest.
What Do I Need to Make Cranberry Orange Cake?
Here is just a quick list of the ingredients so you can get an overview of what you will need. All the measurements and details can be found in the recipe card down below.
Sugared Cranberries
- Granulated Sugar
- Water
- Fresh Cranberries
Cranberry Orange Cake
- Dry Ingredients: Cake Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt
- Wet Ingredients: Unsalted Butter, Granulated Sugar, Egg Whites, Vanilla Extract, Milk, Sour Cream
- Cranberries tossed in Flour to keep them from sinking in the cake
- Orange Zest and Juice (fresh)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Unsalted Butter
- Cream Cheese
- Powdered Sugar
- Whipping Cream or Milk
- Orange Zest
How to Make Cranberry Orange Cake
There are three different parts to this recipe – the sugared cranberries (used for aesthetic reason and are optional), the cake and the frosting. Here are the basic steps for making this cake:
Sugared Cranberries
- Dissolve some of the sugar into the water in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat to create a simple syrup.
- Stir in the fresh cranberries until they are well coated and then remove the berries with a slotted spoon to a wire rack to dry.
- After they have dried for about an hour, roll the cranberries in sugar. Return them to the wire cooling rack to dry completely.
Cranberry Orange Cake
- Prep: Preheat the oven and line a 9×13 inch cake pan with parchment paper and cooking spray.
- Dry Ingredients: Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Wet Ingredients: In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the egg whites and vanilla and beat until combined. Reduce the speed on the mixer and mix in the milk and sour cream.
- Combine: Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix just until combined scraping down the sides as needed. Be sure to not overmix!
- Coat: Toss the chopped cranberries with a little flour in a small bowl. This helps the cranberries to stay suspended in the cake rather than sinking to the bottom of the cake.
- Fold: Carefully fold the chopped cranberries, orange juice and zest into the cake batter using a large spatula or wooden spoon.
- Pour: Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth out the top with an offset spatula.
- Bake: Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the sides of the cake are pulling away from the pan.
- Cool: Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream: Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until softened and no lumps remain.
- Sweeten: Add the powdered sugar to the butter and cream cheese mixture.
- Consistency: Add the whipping cream a little at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
- Pro Tip: If you want add more orange flavor, mix in a tablespoon of orange zest to the frosting to make orange cream cheese frosting.
- Frost: You can frost the cake in the pan or turn the cake out onto a plate or stand and frost the top of the cake with a flat-edge knife or offset spatula.
- Serve: Slice the cake and serve with a few of the sugared cranberries on top and a sprinkle of orange zest.
All of these instructions can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post in full detail.
Now while the cake is straight forward and easy to make, there are a few key ingredients and tips to ensure it turns out perfectly. So here goes:
Tips For Making Cake
- Make sure the butter is room temperature before getting started. This makes the creaming process much easier.
- We’re using just egg whites so our cake is light & fluffy in texture. Egg whites give lift to baked goods.
- Then sour cream and milk add moisture for the perfect moist cake crumb. Make sure they’re warmed to room temperature so you don’t have to over mix the batter.
- Then to keep the cake crumb delicate, we’re using cake flour. It’s important not to pack down the flour while measuring. If you don’t have cake flour on hand, you can make your own with cornstarch and all-purpose flour. See the recipe notes for more details.
- Then for the delicious orange flavor we’re using both freshly squeezed orange juice and orange zest. The orange flavor is natural and delicious when paired with the tart cranberries.
- Finally, for the cream cheese frosting – make sure the butter and cream cheese are both softened to room temperature before getting started. This ensures your frosting is smooth and creamy with no lumps.
Are Cranberries Good for You?
Half a cup of cranberries contains only 25 calories.
The nutrients in cranberries have been linked to a lower risk of urinary tract infections, prevention of certain types of cancer, improved immune function, and decreased blood pressure.
They are low in calories and high in vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin K.
Why is Cream Cheese Frosting Lumpy?
There is one way to avoid lumps in your frosting and hardly any cookbooks mention it. You must cream the butter very well in the first step.
Most cookbooks instruct you to ensure the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature before mixing.
If you did this to the best of your ability and still had lumpy frosting what happened is that your butter did not soften up enough first.
Since butter and cream cheese warm at different rates the best method is to cream the heck out of the butter before adding the cream cheese.
Then it’s foolproof.
Creaming the butter for several minutes softens and warms it sufficiently so it combines smoothly with the remaining ingredients.
The flavors are perfect for the holidays and the soft, delicate cake crumb makes you ask for a second piece. Not to mention the cream cheese frosting…. Is there anything more delicious???
I absolutely love this cake for the holidays. The fresh oranges, cranberries and cream cheese frosting make for the perfect flavor combo. And if you need a cake to feed a crowd – this cranberry orange cake is for you.
More Holiday Dessert Recipes:
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Cranberry Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Description
This cranberry orange cake with cream cheese frosting is bursting with holiday flavors. Perfectly moist with the softest cake crumb – the combination of sweet oranges and tart cranberries makes it perfect for Christmas.
Course 500+ Best Dessert Recipes
Keyword christmas, cranberries, cream cheese frosting, holidays, oranges
Prep Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes minutes
Total Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes
Servings 12 -15 slices
Calories 607kcal
Author Fiona
For the Sugared Cranberries*
For the Cranberry Orange Cake
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
For the Sugared Cranberries
In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, dissolve 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar in the 1/2 cup water.
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar, 1/2 Cup Water
Once the sugar is dissolved, stir in the fresh cranberries until they’re well coated in the sugar water.
6 oz Fresh Cranberries
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cranberries to a wire rack to dry.
After approximately 1 hour, roll the cranberries in the additional 1 cup of sugar.
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
Transfer the cranberries back to the wire rack to dry.
For the Cranberry Orange Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
Line the bottom of a 9×13 inch cake pan with parchment paper, and grease the sides of the pan with cooking spray or grease and flour the entire pan.
In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt ensuring there aren’t lumps in the flour.
2 1/2 Cups Cake Flour, 2 teaspoons Baking Powder, 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda, 1/4 teaspoon Salt
Set aside.
In a separate large bowl using a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed and fluffy and no lumps remain (about 1-2 minutes).
3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, 1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
Add in the egg whites and vanilla and continue beating until combined (about 30 seconds).
4 Large Egg Whites, 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Then turn the mixer down to low speed and beat in the milk and sour cream.
1/3 Cup Whole Milk, 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
With the mixer on low speed, carefully beat in the flour mixture. Be very careful not to over mix the batter.
Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
In a separate medium sized bowl (or the bowl that you used to sift together the flour mixture), toss the chopped cranberries with 2 teaspoons of flour.
2 Cups Cranberries, 2 teaspoons Flour
Carefully stir the chopped cranberries, orange zest and orange juice into cake batter using your large rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
3 Tablespoons Orange Zest, 1/2 Cup Orange Juice
Pour the batter into your prepared pan and smooth the top with your spatula.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and the edges of the cake are pulling away from the sides of the pan.
Allow to cool fully before frosting.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
In a large bowl using a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until softened and no lumps remain.
1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, 6 oz Cream Cheese
Turn down the mixer to low speed and careful beat in the powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time.
2-3 Cups Powdered Sugar
Finally, beat in the whipping cream 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired sweetness level and consistency are reached. You may need to add in a little extra powdered sugar as necessary. The frosting should be smooth, and thinner than peanut butter in consistency.
1-2 Tablespoons Whipping Cream
To Frost the Cake
Invert it from the cake pan and place on a cake board. (Alternatively, you can frost it in the pan and serve it from there.)
Frost the top of the cake with the cream cheese frosting using a flat-edge knife or offset spatula.
Slice into 12-15 pieces, and place a few sugared cranberries on the top of each piece, and sprinkle with additional orange zest.
1-2 Tablespoons Orange Zest
Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator in an air-tight container for up to 3 days. Bring the cake to room temperature before enjoying.
*You’ll likely have extra sugared cranberries. These also make a pretty centerpiece.
**If you don’t have cake flour, measure out 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour. Then remove 1/3 cup of the flour and replace it with 1/3 cup cornstarch. Whisk the mixture together. Serving: 1piece | Calories: 607kcal | Carbohydrates: 96g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 166mg | Potassium: 209mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 73g | Vitamin A: 800IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 79mg | Iron: 0.5mg
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If you love cranberries & oranges, why not try this cranberry orange loaf? It’s perfectly moist and drizzled with sweet orange glaze.
Now – I absolutely love anything with white chocolate, and the combination of sweet white chocolate and tart cranberries is even more delicious. How amazing do these look?
Or why not try this white chocolate cranberry pecan fudge? It’s a perfect gift for the holidays.
READ: Cranberry Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting