Every slice of this super moist, ultra flavorful cranberry orange Bundt cake boasts a buttery brown sugar orange crumb, tart juicy cranberries, and a ribbon of cinnamon-sugar. Drizzle with a simple orange glaze for an impressive cake that’s a welcome addition to any holiday party or brunch.
I originally published this recipe in 2017 and have since added new photos and additional success tips.
Step aside Christmas cookies because this Bundt cake is a must-make this—and every!—holiday season.
Today we’re combining tart cranberries, a thick cinnamon swirl, and sweet orange glaze to create a dessert that’s perfect for a celebration! It’s also very well loved:
One reader, Emma, commented: “This cake is amazing… I make a cake every week to take to tennis and this was voted my best cake ever and I’ve been taking a cake since 2008! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Sherrille, commented: “I was a little apprehensive about this cake, as most similar recipes I’ve tried were dry. OMG, this one is moist and perfectly delicious! I made mini-Bundt cakes for gifts and am on my second batch now. All gift recipients raved about the flavor and moistness! ★★★★★”
And another reader, Andi, commented: “I made this a few weeks ago. Absolutely amazing. I plan to make it for breakfast Christmas morning. I mean, why not? Yum! ★★★★★”
Cranberry & Orange Flavor Pairing
Peppermint and mocha. Pumpkin and spice. Ginger and molasses. Mint and chocolate. There’s no doubt this time of year is home to some of the most delicious and irresistible flavor combos. But there’s one duo that’s completely underrated: cranberry and orange.
I love this flavor duo year round, but especially during the holidays (hello, cranberry sauce) when we could all use a little pop of sweet/tart flavor in between chocolatey, spiced, and rich desserts. Don’t get me wrong, this cranberry orange Bundt cake is definitely decadent—and I love the flavor profile this cake adds to a holiday spread. A few other orange-cranberry recipes I love? Orange cranberry bread, cranberry orange icebox cookies, and cranberry orange muffins.
Behind the Recipe
Chai Bundt cake is the starting point for today’s recipe. It’s honestly one of the best cakes I’ve ever made, even if you skip the chai cinnamon swirl inside. It’s super buttery, moist, and dense without being too heavy.
With a quality base recipe like that, the options are endless. (Try my rum cake next!) I knew that’s where I wanted to start when crafting a holiday inspired cake.
Ingredients in Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake
Because they’re so large, Bundt cakes have a tendency to dry out. Not this one! We’re using lots of power ingredients to ensure the very best flavor, moisture, and texture. Here’s what you need:
Some ingredients notes before you begin:
- Flour: We use sturdy all-purpose flour as the base because it’s strong enough to hold up to the cranberries and all the liquid ingredients.
- Butter: Make sure you use room-temperature butter that’s still cool to the touch. If it’s too warm, the butter and sugar cannot properly cream. Here’s more on how to cream butter and sugar and its importance in recipes.
- Sugars: Use brown sugar as the primary sweetener, with just a touch of granulated sugar.
- Oranges: Can’t have a cranberry orange cake without the flavor from real oranges. We use both orange zest and juice for added flavor and moisture. I don’t recommend store-bought OJ, because it’s too thick and I found it made the cake too wet.
- Eggs, Sour Cream, + Milk: 5 eggs, sour cream, and milk add moisture. It’s a lot of volume, but remember, this is a big cake!
- Cranberries: Use fresh, frozen, or dried cranberries—I tested the cake with both fresh and frozen. If using frozen, do not thaw. If using fresh cranberries, you can cut some in half or give them a rough chop before adding to the batter; this just gives a little more texture variety, and ensures cranberry flavor in every bite.
Curdled Ingredients: The wet ingredients will look somewhat curdled before you add the dry ingredients—this is due to the ranging temperatures of the ingredients. It’s normal. The butter may be warmer than the eggs, the sour cream may be colder than the butter, etc. It will all come together when the dry ingredients are added.
Cinnamon Swirl Filling
Layer the cinnamon swirl between the cake batter—half of the cake batter on the bottom, half of the cake batter on the top. There’s no need to actually swirl it, the oven will take care of that. The weight of the cake batter rises and falls as it bakes, moving the cinnamon swirl along with it.
Success Tip: When you sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar filling over the bottom layer of cake batter, try to keep it away from the edges of the pan as best you can. If a lot of the cinnamon-sugar layer touches the sides or center of the Bundt pan, the cake is more likely to stick to the pan when you try to invert it.
Easy Orange Icing
I love making icings and glazes with fresh citrus juices, like the topping on these lemon shortbread cookies. A little tang with a little sweet is always a good idea! You’ll notice that the icing is a bit thin, but it will “set” on top of the cake. For an alternative, try the brown butter icing used on my peach Bundt cake or the cream cheese frosting used on my hummingbird Bundt cake.
Before You Bundt
- Bundt Pan: You need a large Bundt pan for this big cake, one that can hold 10–12 cups of batter. I use and recommend this one and this one. Even though they have a nonstick coating, I still always grease the pan generously with nonstick spray, to ensure the heavy cake releases easily when it’s time to invert it onto a platter.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 1 hour, and then invert onto a cooling rack or serving platter/cake stand. Trying to invert the cake too soon or after too long always makes it harder to release; I find that 60 minutes is the sweet spot for this cake.
To really take this cake presentation to the next level of festive, serve it with the sparkly sugared cranberries that I also use to garnish pumpkin pie.
Print
Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Every slice of this super moist, ultra flavorful cranberry orange Bundt cake boasts a buttery brown sugar orange crumb, tart juicy cranberries, and a ribbon of cinnamon-sugar. Drizzle with a simple orange glaze for an impressive cake that’s a welcome addition to any holiday party or brunch.
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 and 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons fresh orange zest
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh orange juice*
- 1 and 3/4 cups (220g) fresh or frozen cranberries (do not thaw if frozen)*
Filling
- 2/3 cup (135g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Orange Glaze
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3–4 Tablespoons (45-60ml) fresh orange juice*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 10-inch Bundt pan.
- Make the cake: In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and orange zest together until creamed, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla and beat on medium speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. The mixture will look curdled; that’s ok—it will come together when you add the dry ingredients.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, add the milk and fresh orange juice, and beat on medium speed it all until the batter is completely combined. Beat or stir in cranberries. Batter is thick, yet silky.
- Make the filling: In a small bowl, mix the 2/3 cup (135g) brown sugar and cinnamon together.
- Pour half of the cake batter evenly into the prepared Bundt pan. Sprinkle the swirl ingredients evenly on top, doing your best to avoid sprinkling near the edges. Keep the cinnamon sugar in the center, so it doesn’t bake/get stuck onto the pan, which makes inverting the cake difficult. Cover evenly with remaining cake batter.
- Bake for 55-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean with just a couple lightly moist crumbs. This is a large, heavy cake so don’t be alarmed if it takes a little longer in your oven.
- Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for just 1 hour inside the pan. Then, invert the slightly cooled Bundt cake onto a wire rack or serving dish. Allow to cool completely.
- Make the icing: Whisk confectioners’ sugar and 3 Tablespoons of orange juice together. Add 1 extra Tablespoon of juice to thin out as needed. (Alternatively, add an extra Tablespoon or 2 of confectioners’ sugar to thicken, if desired.) Drizzle icing over cake before slicing and serving.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the entire cake ahead of time (before topping with icing). Cover cooled cake and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before icing and serving. Baked cake can be frozen up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature (if desired) before icing and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 10-inch Bundt Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Citrus Juicer | Citrus Zester | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Sour Cream: You can use 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Just as moist and delicious!
- Orange Juice: Use fresh orange juice. You’ll need an orange for the zest anyway, so use up that juice in the cake and icing. The cake tastes MUCH better with fresh juice than with store-bought OJ.
- Cranberries: 1 and 3/4 cups of fresh, frozen, or dried cranberries work.
- Optional Garnish: I added some sugared cranberries for garnish.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I have salted butter on hand,do you know how much salt I should add or should I forgo the additional salt??
Hi Jasmine, if using salted butter in the cake we would reduce the added salt to 1/2 tsp.
This was wonderful! Made it for Friendsgiving pot luck at work.
One question, how do you measure zest? Packed tablespoon? Loose?
Just wondering
Hi Keith, we’re so glad it was a hit! You don’t need to tightly pack the zest—fill the Tablespoon and then tap it on the counter to help level it a bit.
Thank you very much, this looks amazing and I can already visualize it for Xmas this year!
Quick question. My partner is lactose intolerant. We have some great lactose-free butter in shops here so that part’s covered – but what would you recommend I use to substitute the sour cream? Thank you in advance!
Hi nana, a dairy free yogurt may work, but we haven’t tested any dairy free substitutes. Let us know how it goes!
I tried this with dried cranberries and it was a disaster, they all ended up in the bottom of the bundt pan. When I flipped it, it came apart. Any advice for doing this with dried cranberries? Thank you.
Hi Luisa, for next time, you can gently toss the dried cranberries in some flour before adding to the cake batter. That will help suspend them in the batter and prevent sinking.
Wow, what a perfect cake!!! I took it to a church potluck today, and two people asked for the recipe! It was so moist and tart and sweet at the same time!!! I want to feature this at our Christmas dinner this year, it’s THAT special!! Taking Sally’s advice about not allowing the cinnamon sugar filling to touch the pan, I suggest making a little trench in the thick batter so you are less likely to have any contact the cake pan. This worked really well for me, except for one little spot that I got some sugar against the pan. All the other parts of the cake released perfectly, except for a little dot that remained behind. No problem, the cake is so moist I just pressed the little missing piece back into place and no one was the wiser! One of my most favorite cakes ever!!
If I could share a photo, I would. This was absolutely delicious. I chopped some of the cranberries in half and zapped the rest in my foot processor to distribute smaller pieces throughout.
Can I make 3 mini bundts with this recipe? Each mini pans holds 4 cups of batter.
Hi Patty, you can divide this batter between mini Bundt pans. The bake time would depend on the size of the pans, but bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean with just a couple lightly moist crumbs. Enjoy!
I made the cake yesterday and we’ve been nibbling on it today. It does taste better today than yesterday. I have decided that I will mix the filling in the batter instead of trying to place it between layers. I had to soak the bundt pan overnight to get the sugar off of it. And the cake fell into 3 pieces when I turned it out of the pan. The sugar baked on the pan is what broke it up.
I will make the cake again but I’ll use a different pan, maybe a 9×13!
How would you alter the recipe to put it in a round cake pan?
Hi Dena! You could bake this in round cake pan(s), but it would be a very dense cake. You might have better results with making this lemon blueberry layer cake, but using oranges and cranberries instead of lemons and blueberries. Also, we have a post on cake pan conversions that you may want to bookmark for future reference.
This is so good. I didn’t use full fat sour cream and it turned out fine. I also put orange zest on top of the glaze which added another zip of flavor which was nice. The tip about letting the cake cool in the pan for 60 minutes helped with getting the cake out of the pan beautifully! Thank you!
Wow lots of butter a cup and a half could I use a half a cup of applesauce to replace some of this butter?
Hi Linda, this is a large cake! We do recommend sticking with butter for best results, but let us know if you do any experimenting.
Is it possible to omit the filling?
Hi Kellie, yes, you can omit the cinnamon sugar filling if you wish.
How many mini-bundt cakes should this recipe make and what would be the baking time?
Hi Barbara, yes you can divide this batter between mini Bundt pans. The bake time would depend on the size of the pans, but bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean with just a couple lightly moist crumbs. Enjoy!
Is there an alternative to cranberries?
Hi Fabiola, other berries, like blueberries could work here!
I have been wanting and dreaming of making this cake for a year now and after finally making it this past week I was not disappointed! The flavor was perfectly balanced; the orange flavor was subtle, the cranberries provided some welcome tartness and the cinnamon swirl was the chef’s kiss. And it was so moist!! Win win!
Hey there! I made this recipe but when I flipped the cake half of it stayed attached to the pan! Could it be that the cinnamon layer was too much or maybe I should’ve let it cool longer ?
I followed all the steps and tips but still it didn’t flip.
The flavor was absolutely amazing tho 😉
Hi Sofia, was your pan well-greased? A very well-greased pan is key to creating a non-stick environment for the cake to slide out easily!
Delicious! Moist & flavorful! Brings back memories of childhood Christmas. Followed directions exactly. Filling of sugar & cinnamon not necessary. Used Nordic ware bundt pan & lowered temp to 325. Needed 4 oranges to get 2tbsp of zest. Came out of pan perfectly!
Totally agree
No need for the cinnamon swirl in the middle,sweet upon sweet
The orange glaze on the cake makes it perfect!
I love all your recipes! I appreciate the time and effort you and your team put into creating all these yummies!
For this recipe, when using freshly squeezed OJ, did you use the pulp too?
Thank you!
Hi Elie, either way is just fine for the cake. For the glaze, you’ll want to filter out any larger pulp pieces. Hope you enjoy the cake!
Hey!
Can this be converted to a loaf cake? How would you advise?
Hi Kim! We would halve the recipe and bake it in a 9×5 loaf pan.