Happy Holidays with this Orange Cranberry Bundt Cake

Today I am introducing a delicious orange cranberry bundt cake. I just love that this bundt cake is so moist, contains real fruit and is just perfect for winter. The batter is fairly easy to prepare and I am sure that you can serve this cake either for Christmas or any kind of get together you have planned in your future. Heck, you may even try it for breakfast!

Since Christmas is just around the corner, I decided to spice this cake with some traditional Christmas spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and the like. I am sure the cake will also taste without, but seriously, I put quite a bit of effort into making this cake look pretty. I mean, for me the taste of a cake will always overrule its prettiness. Seriously. I don’t understand how people find cakes made with ultra-sweet fondant georgeous. Sure, they may be from the outside, but it really saddens me that you cannot eat fondant. So what’s the deal? Why do people say these cakes are gorgeous if you can’t eat half of them? In this instance I decorated my bundt cake with some oranges, cranberries, and rosemary to make it extra special. So I figured it wouldn’t hurt to also make the batter have some secret ingredient. Hence the spice plus fresh cranberries and orange juice. I can assure you, this cake definitely tastes as good as it looks!

I decided to also make the glaze with orange juice to really have some flavor. I will also tell you a little trick how to get the cranberries look “frozen” even though they are not. The secret is to brush them and the rosemary sprigs with egg white. Once you did that, you roll them in regular sugar and voilá! So this can be done rather last minute as well. If you don’t have a kitchen torch, you can leave the orange triangles as they are, however, I decided to burn the orange slices with a little sugar. I find it gives this cake a nice rustic look. But as stated, this cakes also tastes great. I at least ate more than one piece as this was so good 😉

The bundt cake you see on the pictures was on the smaller side. Below you will find instructions for the regular size bundt cake, which is about 2 liters or 12 cups. The bundt cake you see below is only half the recipe.

Print Recipe

Orange Cranberry Bundt Cake

Serves: One bundt cake with 2l/12 cups filling or two smaller ones

Cooking Time: 30min preparation + 50-75min of baking

Ingredients

• Orange Cranberry Bundt Cake
• 250 grams of butter at room temperature
• 170 grams of brown sugar
• 50 grams of regular sugar
• Zest of one organic orange
• 5 eggs, size L
• 120 grams of sour cream
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, see here how to make your own
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 375 grams of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon of cardamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of cloves
• 120 grams/milliliters of milk
• 60 + 20 milliliters of freshly pressed orange juice
• 200 grams fresh or frozen cranberries (don't unfreeze)
• 
  
• For decoration (optional)
• Icing sugar
• Rosmary sprigs
• Some cranberries
• Orange slices cut into triangles
• Egg white
• Regular sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, see here how to make your own

Instructions

1

First grease bundt form with oil and then flour. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2

Beat the soft butter with the regular sugar, brown sugar and orange zest. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then add sour cream and vanilla extract. Don't worry, the batter will be thin and looks a bit curdled.

3

Add baking powder, flour and spice, only mix until combined, then mix in milk and 60 milliliters of orange juice. Now the batter should look silky. Fold in cranberries with a spatula. Put batter into prepared form and bake for about 65-70 minutes. If top darkenes too much, cover with aluminium foil. Let cool for about ten minutes on the counter, then first release with a spatula before turning onto a plate.

4

Mix 20 milliliters of orange juice and enough icing sugar to make a thick glaze. Be sure for it to be thick enough so that you can create the drip effect.

5

Slice one orange into small triangles and pat dry. Sprinkle regular sugar on each triangle and immediately burn with a torch. If you don't have one, you can leave the orange triangles as they are.

6

Brush the cranberries and rosemary with egg white and roll in regular sugar. Decorate bundt cake as desired.

Notes

You have egg yolks left? Check out here what you can do with it.

To all of you, happy holidays, enjoy your time with your family and stay sane!