Cranberry Orange Cake

Name: Cranberry Orange Cake
Prep time: 120 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 150 min
Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp salt; 3/4 cup unsalted butter (room temperature); 1 Tbsp orange zest (from one large orange); 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar; 3 large eggs (room temperature); 1 tsp vanilla; 3/4 cup milk (room temperature); 1/2 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed, from one large orange); 1 cup cranberries (heaping, coated in 1 Tbsp flour); 2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature); 1 Tbsp orange zest; 8 oz cream cheese (full fat, softened); 5 cups powdered sugar; 1 tsp vanilla; fresh cranberries; orange slices (if desired); thyme sprigs (if desired)

By Olivia, 88 Comments

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Loaded with fresh cranberries and packed with orange flavour, this Cranberry Orange Cake with cream cheese frosting is a hit for any occasion!

If you’ve been following Liv for Cake for a while you know I am a huge fan of citrus desserts. I often prefer them to anything with vanilla or chocolate.

Something about the sweet-tart flavour is irresistible. Maybe the fact that they’re not as cloyingly sweet as a lot of desserts or that they just feel more refreshing. I don’t know. They are delicious!

How to Make this Cranberry Orange Cake

I modified my favorite Vanilla Cake recipe to make this cake but adding orange zest and juice to the batter. Then just folded in some cranberries at the end.

I used fresh cranberries, but you could use frozen as well (don’t thaw them first). It’s important that you toss them in a bit of flour so that they don’t sink in your cake batter whether they’re fresh or frozen.

I intentionally made the layers on the thinner side — they are about 1″ tall each, slightly more. I wanted a better balance of frosting to cake without the cake being too large. If you like, you can 1.5x the recipe for taller layers (see Tips section).

The cake is delicate and delicious with bursts of orange and tangy cranberry flavour throughout.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

I chose to pair this Cranberry Orange Cake with a cream cheese frosting for some extra tang, but you could use an American buttercream, a Swiss meringue buttercream, or even German or Ermine frosting. Any of those options would be equally delicious.

I added orange zest to my buttercream for more of that orange flavour and highly recommend doing that. You could leave the zest out, but you’d be missing out on a delicious hit of extra flavour.

I kept the decorating simple with just a swirl through the frosting on the sides and top. This is a really easy technique — all you need to do it is a cake turntable (mine is a $10 lazy susan from Ikea) and an offset spatula.

For the top of the cake I decorated it with some fresh cranberries, orange slices, and sprigs of thyme and I love how it turned out! If you prefer, you can use sugared cranberries as decoration instead of plain ones to give the cake more of a winter/holiday vibe.

This Cranberry Orange Cake is moist, tender, and so delicious. The flavour combination works so well and I think it’s perfect for the holiday season.

Tips for this Cranberry Orange Cake:

The cake layers will be just over 1″ tall. This is intentional as I wanted a better cake to frosting ratio. If you like, you can 1.5x the recipe for taller layers.
The recipe as-is will also work in two 8″ pans or three 6″ pans, but will make taller layer (~2″ each). Baking time will need to be increased.
To make cupcakes, all you need to do is reduce the baking time — start checking at 15mins or so.
You can use fresh or frozen (unthawed) cranberries. Either way, be sure to toss them in a bit of flour so they don’t sink while baking.
I recommend beating the butter and orange zest together for both the cake and the frosting as a first step. This really helps infuse that orange flavour throughout.
The cooled cake layers can be baked ahead of time, double wrapped in plastic wrap, and frozen for up to 3 months. Take out 2-3 hours before assembly.
The frosting can be placed in an airtight container and refrigerated for 1 week for frozen for 3 months. Bring to room temp and rewhip before using.
Learn how to keep your cakes moist using Simple Syrup.
To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, check out my How to Bake Flat Cake Layers post!

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