Cranberry Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting – Oh Sweet Basil

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

1. Dissolve some of the sugar into the water in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat to create a simple syrup.
2. 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.
3. 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

1. Prep: Preheat the oven and line a 9×13 inch cake pan with parchment paper and cooking spray.
2. Dry Ingredients: Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
3. 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.
4. 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!
5. 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.
6. Fold: Carefully fold the chopped cranberries, orange juice and zest into the cake batter using a large spatula or wooden spoon.
7. Pour: Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth out the top with an offset spatula.
8. 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.
9. Cool: Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Cream: Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until softened and no lumps remain.
2. Sweeten: Add the powdered sugar to the butter and cream cheese mixture.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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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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.