Cranberry Cake
Updated Nov 21, 2025
This fresh cranberry pound cake combines vibrant orange, tart cranberries, and toasted almonds for a delicious and easy-to-make holiday cake!
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Make Cranberry Cake for the Holidays
During the holidays, there are a few cakes I love to make for my friends like my Cardamom Cake, Date Cake, and this Cranberry Cake because they are easy, festive and delicious! The cranberries give it tartness, the orange zest gives it a fresh flavor and it comes together really quickly without any fancy steps or fancy equipment. I top my cranberry cake with sliced almonds and a dusting of powdered sugar, but you can get creative and add a simple Buttercream Frosting and fun holiday toppers if you’d like!
Happy Cooking!
– Yumna
Cranberry Cake Ingredients
- Cranberries: Fresh cranberries work best in this recipe but you can also use frozen cranberries. If working with frozen, don’t thaw them first. Or, you could always use dried cranberries, just look for ones that are unsweetened.
- Orange zest: Look for one that is relatively thick-skinned and firm to the touch. If you can, I’d also go organic since you’ll only be using the zest!
- Almonds: I like the look and texture that sliced almonds give this cake, but if you don’t feel like buying them, you can simply pulse up some raw almonds in the food processor and use those instead. Or swap for chopped walnuts or pecans.
- Powdered sugar: You need just enough to dust the baked cake.
- Dry ingredients: All-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cane sugar, cinnamon and salt make up the dry ingredients. You could also use whole wheat or white whole wheat flour as an alternative to the all purpose. As for the sugar, feel free to swap regular granulated sugar for the cane sugar.
- Wet ingredients: This cranberry cake also needs some butter, Greek yogurt, vanilla and eggs. If desired, use ¾ cup of milk in place of the 1 cup of Greek yogurt.
How to Make Cranberry Cake
Cranberry Cake Recipe
Easy cranberry cake made with Greek yogurt, fresh cranberries, orange zest, and sliced almonds only takes about 10 minutes to mix the batter!
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter room temperature, plus more for baking dish
- ¾ cup cane sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup 2% Greek yogurt
- 1 orange zested
- 1 ½ cups cranberries fresh or frozen
- 1 cup sliced almonds roughly chopped
- Powdered sugar for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch round baking pan with butter.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, and sugar for 3-5 minutes or until combined, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the eggs one at a time and the vanilla extract. Add the Greek yogurt and orange zest.
- Slowly add the flour mixture, allowing some to fully mix in before adding the next. Once the flour is incorporated and the batter has formed, fold in the cranberries and ½ cup of sliced almonds.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread out evenly so it reaches the sides of the pan. Sprinkle the remaining sliced almonds on top.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the cake is cooked through in the center. Let cool and serve.
Notes
- My Top Tip: To keep the cranberry cake from crumbling, let it cool completely before slicing. This allows the cake to rest and finish setting up.
- Storage: To store your cranberry pound cake, let it cool completely before transferring to an airtight container. This will help prevent the cake from drying out or becoming stale. You can keep your cake at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 5-7 days.
- Freezing: Let the cake cool completely and then slice it into individual servings. Place the slices on a baking sheet in the freezer until they are firm. Then, transfer them to an airtight container or freezer bag and store them for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, let the cake thaw at room temperature for a few hours, or place it in the fridge overnight.
Nutrition
Calories: 433kcal, Carbohydrates: 49g, Protein: 10g, Fat: 23g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 79mg, Sodium: 352mg, Potassium: 270mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 24g, Vitamin A: 550IU, Vitamin C: 11mg, Calcium: 126mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Recipe Variations
- Add some more warm spices. In addition to the cinnamon, I like adding ½ teaspoon ground ginger or ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg.
- Finish with a glaze. Instead of the powder sugar dusting, make this more festive with a very simple sugar glaze.
- Top with streusel or glaze. To take your almond cranberry cake to the next level, top it with a simple cinnamon-sugar streusel. I follow the topping recipe for my Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake.
Recipe Tips
- Prevent the cranberries from sinking. Toss the cranberries with a little flour (just enough to coat) to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake before folding them into the batter.
- Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients. For best results when making a cranberry pound cake, it’s important to gently fold the wet and dry ingredients together. This will help prevent overmixing and ensure that the cake stays tender and moist.
- When zesting, avoid the white. Be sure to only get the orange peel and not the white pith, as that can add a bitter taste to your cake.
- Let the cake cool completely before slicing. Be sure to let your cranberry almond cake fully cool before slicing and serving so that it holds together well. If you slice and serve while the cake is still warm, it may fall apart.
Comments
The calorie of all the cake is 433 or each piece of it?
Hi there, that is for 1 slice.
What do you think of substituting with Almond flour, or half Almond and half regular flour? Am thinking of trying that but wonder what else Iโd need to tweak
I havenโt tested this with that type of flour, and almond flour does not usually rise the same as regular flour so I am not sure of how the results will turn out. If you do try it, you may need to adjust the ratios!
I love your olive oil cake and want to try this one. Can I use whole milk Greek yogurt instead of the2% Greek yogurt?
Yes, whole milk will work just fine!