This Cranberry Christmas Cake is a one-bowl, no-egg wonder that’s almost impossible to mess up! Moist, dense, and bursting with tart cranberries, it’s a no-fail holiday dessert. Every time I make it, people fall in love and ask for the recipe—even better, it’s easy to make gluten-free!
I enjoy giving precise details in my recipe posts to lead my readers through any questions. If you’re just here for the printable recipe, use the Jump to Recipe to head straight there!
Why You’ll Love Cranberry Cake
This Cranberry Cake has been my holiday go-to for years, and honestly, it’s hard to mess up. It’s a one-bowl, no-egg recipe—so simple, it feels like cheating. You just mix it up, pour it into the pan, and let the oven do the rest. The result? A moist, dense cake with tart pops of cranberry that are as gorgeous as they are delicious. It might not look like the fanciest dessert, but trust me—one bite, and everyone’s asking for the recipe. It hooks them every time.
I’ve brought this cranberry cake to our church brunches more times than I can count, and it always disappears fast. Since a few of our friends are gluten-free, I’ve learned how to swap in gluten-free flour without skipping a beat. The milk base keeps the cake rich and creamy no matter how you tweak it, and those cranberries add the perfect festive touch. It’s one of those recipes you can count on during the craziness of the holidays—because we all need at least one no-fail dessert, right?
Here’s the deal: don’t overbake it. That’s the key to keeping it moist. And when it comes out of the oven, throw a piece of foil on top while it cools—it works like magic for extra tenderness. Oh, and let’s not forget the butter sauce. Seriously, don’t even think about skipping it. That buttery, sweet drizzle takes this humble little cake to an entirely new level. If you’re looking for a dessert that’s easy, foolproof, and downright delicious, this cranberry Xmas cake is it. It’s become a tradition in my house, and I bet it’ll be one in yours too!
Cranberry Christmas Cake Ingredients
- Cranberries: These tart cranberries can be fresh or frozen. I use fresh whenever possible. For frozen, no need to thaw.
- All-Purpose Flour: King Arthur’s organic unbleached all-purpose flour is one of my favorites.
- Sugar: Dixie Crystals is made from pure cane sugar and is my go-to for baking recipes.
- Milk: I use whole milk in this recipe to achieve the perfect texture when baked.
- Butter: You will melt it; real butter is magic in baked goods because it’s richer than margarine! It makes your cranberry Christmas cake tender, velvety smooth, and delicious!
- Vanilla Butter Sauce: You’ll need butter, whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. Try my Bourbon Vanilla Extract for this recipe, yum!
Get the full recipe in the recipe card below.
Notice a typical ingredient that is missing from this recipe? No EGGS! Perfect for your friends and family with egg allergies! The secret is in the milk!
How to Make Cranberry Christmas Cake
Whether you are baking this for Christmas morning breakfast or enjoying for a holiday dessert, this recipe comes together quickly and tastes great. Truly a one bowl, no egg cake — from scratch!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9×13 inch pan, a pretty pan makes this perfect for Christmas morning. May also be made into a cranberry bundt cake!
Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, flour, sugar, baking powder, and kosher salt.
Gently stir in the cranberries, coating them with the flour mixture.
Then, stir in milk, vanilla and slightly cooled melted butter.
Pour the batter into your pan(s) smoothing out and bake for about 40-50 minutes. If desired, sprinkle with coarse white sparkling sugar, adds a snowy touch. May add before or after the cake bakes, I like it after as it sits on top better.
When done, remove your cranberry Christmas cake and cool it on a wire rack.
After it’s cooled (may be served warm), slice and serve with some vanilla butter sauce and sugared cranberries, if desired.
Variations for Cranberry Cake
- If you can’t find fresh or frozen cranberries, see FAQ’s below for how to rehydrate dried cranberries.
- Add 1-2 teaspoons of fresh grated orange zest for a cranberry orange Christmas cake.
- Instead of the Vanilla Butter Sauce, you could also make this browned butter glaze, drizzle this basic vanilla buttercream glaze over the top, or serve with some fresh whipped cream or keep it plain.
- Try adding ¼ – ½ teaspoon almond extract.
Gluten-Free Cranberry Cake
For a gluten-free cranberry cake, replace all of the flour with GF All-purpose flour OR 2 ½ cups flour with your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour and the other 1 ½ cups almond flour or oat flour.
Cranberry Christmas Bundt Cake
In your favorite 10 or 12-cup bundt pan, spray well with a good baker’s spray or butter well and then dust with a little flour. You will increase your baking time to about 50-60 minutes, cake is done when skewer inserted comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Don’t open and close the oven door. When you do, you lose about 50% of the heat!
2. Too much leavening (baking powder) will cause the cranberry cake to rise too quickly then collapse.
3. If it’s humid where you live, the batter will absorb extra moisture from the air. Let it rest for about 15 minutes before baking. You can also increase the baking time by 2-3 minute increments but watch it so it doesn’t over-bake.
4. Baking at high altitudes is another tricky situation. Try adding 15-25 degrees to the temperature see below for high altitude cake recipe instructions.
Yes! The best way is to soak the cranberries in boiling water to plump them, let sit for 10-15 minutes, then pour through strainer and use as planned in recipe.
To give your fruit some extra flavor, swap the water for fruit juice or a liquor, like rum, bourbon, or brandy. You can also use frozen cranberries.
Yes! It’s a gorgeous way to serve this dessert. You will need to increase your baking time and remember that the final product might be more dense.. Begin testing it at about 45 minutes, remove when toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, then invert cake onto cooling rack to cool completely before icing.
Recommended Tools
- 9×13 inch Pan | I love this Dansk Koebenstyle baker, it’s pricey though, this pan is also gorgeous and a bit more reasonable — or check out TJ Maxx or similar stores, they probably have some pretty bakers.
- Mixing Bowl | since this cranberry recipe is a one bowl recipe, you want a decent sized bowl, I am in love with my Mason Cash stoneware bowl!
- Liquid Measuring Cup | these are my favorite, they don’t get cloudy over time.
- Sturdy Spatula or Wooden Spoon | these babies are the workhorses in the kitchen, I love these spatulas since you can remove the silicone top and pop in your utensil slot in the dishwasher.
Storage Tips
This cake will keep covered in an airtight container on the counter for about 3 days, in the fridge up to 7 days and frozen up to 3 months. If freezing, wrap well in plastic wrap and then again in foil to prevent freezer burn.
High Altitude Cranberry Christmas Cake
This recipe is pretty forgiving when it comes to high altitude, but I have a few adjustments for you.
- Increase all-purpose flour between 2-4 tablespoons, I increased by 2 tablespoons for 5280 above sea level.
- Reduce granulated sugar to 1 ½ -1 ¾ cups
- Reduce baking powder to 3 teaspoons.
- Batter should be thick, if too dry then add a little extra whole milk, water or orange juice a tablespoon at a time, do not overmix. I used an extra tablespoon.
- Increase baking temperature to 375 °F degrees and check for doneness at 30 minutes, covering with foil if browning too quickly.
Serving Suggestions for Cranberry Cake
- Serving with butter sauce will make you swoon!
- Drizzle with this brown butter sauce or this basic vanilla buttercream glaze.
- Serve as is, cooled or warm from the oven.
- Add a dollop of whipped cream and grate a little fresh nutmeg over the top, or try a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- For the best texture cool completely. If desired to serve warm, rewarm covered in 150-175° F oven for 20 minutes.
- Drizzling with warm vanilla butter sauce? You might also want to make these simple sugared cranberries, they add such magical sparkle!
More Cranberry Recipes
- Cranberry Lemon Drop Martini
- Easy Turkey Cranberry Sliders Recipe (Baked)
- Fresh Cranberry Relish
- Fall Harvest Salad {with Roasted Butternut Squash & Quinoa}
- Cranberry Simple Syrup
More great Holiday treats
These are a few of our favorite recipes to make over the holidays.
- Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies | a hit any time of the year!
- Traditional Tiramisu | a no bake, sensation!
- Key Lime Pie | might seem untraditional, but it’s popular for the holidays!
- Scottish Shortbread | just a few simple ingredients!
- Old Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls | A Christmas morning tradition
- Eggnog Coffee Cake | Another Christmas morning winner, this overnight coffee cake rocks!
- Try this easy Gingerbread bundt cake for another winner!
This recipe is lovingly adapted from Brenda at A Farmgirl’s Dabbles, it’s one of those family recipes passed down for generations and it’s a winner!
Be sure to browse all of the wonderful Cranberry Week recipes below! So many options, so little time!
What to serve with this Christmas Cranberry Cake recipe
Our favorite cranberry recipes
I hope you loved this Cranberry Christmas Cake recipe — if you did, would you share your creation on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest? And be sure to comment below!
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Ingredients
Cranberry Cake (see notes for high altitude adjustments)
- 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar I used all-natural cane sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cups whole fresh cranberries or frozen, do not thaw
- 2 cups milk I used whole milk
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 teaspoon regular vanilla extract or use bourbon vanilla extract
Vanilla Butter Sauce
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup whipping cream not fat free
- 1 cup sugar I use all natural cane sugar, but you can use white sugar
- 1 ½ – 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350° F (375 for High altitude) and lightly spray a 9×13 inch pan (or 2 8×8 square or round pans). High altitude 375 degrees F.
- Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
- Add cranberries and stir to coat, then add milk, vanilla and melted butter to dry ingredients, mixing well, batter will be thick.
- For high altitude you may need to add additional 1-2 tablespoons milk, it should still be thick, but all of the ingredients incorporated, don’t overmix.
- Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and bake for 40-50 minutes (for high altitude check at 35 minutes), until the top is golden brown. A toothpick or skewer inserted should come out clean or with a few crumbs. Cool on wire rack. If needed, cover cake with a loose piece of foil the last 10-15 minutes.
- If desired, sprinkle with coarse sanding sugar.
- Meanwhile make the butter sauce, In a small heavy-bottomed sauce pan, over medium-low heat, melt the butter, sugar, heavy whipping cream and vanilla. Stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved and has a syrup consistency, bring to boil for about 1 minute. Sauce will thicken as it cools, delicious thin or thick. TIP | It should coat the back of a wooden spoon.
- Sauce is best served warm, it will thicken as it cools, so if you need it thicker, allow it to cool until desired consistency.
Notes
High Altitude Cake Recipe Instructions
This recipe is pretty forgiving when it comes to high attitude, but I have a few adjustments for you.- Increase all-purpose flour between 2-4 tablespoons, I increased by 2 tablespoons for 5280 above sea level.
- Reduce granulated sugar to 1 ¾ cups
- Reduce baking powder to 3 teaspoons
- Batter should be thick, if too dry then add a little extra whole milk, water or orange juice a tablespoon at a time, do not overmix. I used an extra tablespoon of milk.
- Increase baking temperature to 375F degrees and start checking for doneness at 30 minutes, covering if needed if browning too quickly.
- For a gluten-free cranberry cake, replace the flour with your favorite all-purpose GF alternative. You can also use oat or almond flour. It’s just as delicious this way!
- If you can’t find fresh or frozen cranberries, see below for how to rehydrate dried cranberries.
- Add 1-2 teaspoons of fresh grated orange zest for a cranberry orange Christmas cake.
- Instead of the Vanilla Butter Sauce you could also make this browned butter glaze or drizzle this basic vanilla buttercream glaze over the top, or serve with some fresh whipped cream or keep it plain.
- Try adding ¼ – ½ teaspoon almond extract.
- Cranberry Bundt Cake | In your favorite 10-cup or larger bundt pan, spray well with a good bakers spray or butter well and then dust with a little flour. You will increase your baking time to about 50 minutes, cake is done when skewer inserted comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
-
- Add a dollop of whipped cream and grate a little fresh nutmeg over the top, or try a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- For the best texture cool completely, then if desired to serve warm, rewarm in 150-175 degree oven for 20 minutes.
- If you are drizzling with vanilla sauce, then you might also want to make these simple sugared cranberries, they add such magical sparkle!
Nutrition
Welcome to Cranberry Week!
This week we are celebrating all things cranberry! We have delicious recipes from across the country to celebrate all things cranberry!
#CranberryWeek is an annual blogging event that is hosted by Ashley from Cheese Curd In Paradise
- Cranberry Moscow Mule from Cheese Curd In Paradise
- Vegan Cranberry Biriyanifrom Magical Ingredients
- Cranberry Jalapeno Dip with Cream Cheese from Our Good Life
- Cranberry Christmas Cake from The Fresh Cooky
- Cranberry Sauce Recipe from Devour Dinner
- Christmas Morning Punch from Jen Around the World
- Cranberry Chutney from The Freshman Cook
- Chocolate Brownie Cranberry Muffins from Daily Dish Recipes
- Cranberry Fluff from Life Love and Good Food
- Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Roast from Kate’s Recipe Box
nursermk
Hi, have the bundt version in the oven right now. Wanted you to correct a mistake, when you show the picture of ingredients the description above reads “OATMEAL CRANBERRY BARS INGREDIENTS” so not sure if the caption is wrong or the picture is wrong for this cake and ingredients.
Too funny, thanks for pointing that out. They are of course the correct ingredients, I’ve corrected it. Hope you love the cake, if you did, I’d love it if you came back and gave it 5 stars.
Cindy
If you made this cake ahead and froze it, would you recommend putting the sauce on before freezing or once thawed? Thanks!
Definitely once thawed!! The sauce would crystallize if frozen and get a little wonky if already on the cake. You can make the sauce ahead and freeze too—just thaw and then warm in a saucepan before using. We love this cake. Hope you do too!!
Sandy Plank
The recipe sounds good I especially like all of the recipes options for different allergies and suggestions as to why you suggest particular ingredients.
Thank you Sandy, glad you found the suggestions helpful!
Lisa
Can you make the sauce ahead and reheat?
You sure can Lisa!! You can either reheat on the stovetop or microwave. Stir it well as it gets a little grainy after it cools and if needed add a splash of cream while reheating! Enjoy!
Sheila
So elegant and just perfect for the holidays!
Thank you Sheila!
Thank you So much!
Radha
This is an amazing cake and love the flavors! Yum!
Thank you Radha! So glad you loved it!
MS
MS
Oh my gosh – I’m hungry just reading and scrolling through this. Can’t wait to try it for Christmas!
Thank you, you will love it!
Debi
I made this before Christmas; I hope that’s ok! And it was a hit with my family!
Julie Menghini
We absolutely loved this cake. It was so pretty and the perfect dessert for Thanksgiving!
Fabulous, thank you so much Julie!
Jennifer Sikora
This cake looks sinful! Love that glaze. Definitely will be making this during the holidays this year.
The amazing thing is, it’s not overly sweet (except if you drown it in the butter sauce), but is such a lovely cake!
Rebecca
This cake is so moist and delicious! The cranberries gave the vanilla butter sauce a great flavor!
Terri Steffes
What a beautiful Christmas cake. I can think of a couple of parties I would like to take this to!
This would be perfect for a Christmas party!
Sheila Thigpen
This cake is moist and delicious already, but that warm vanilla butter sauce catapults it over the top!!! Great recipe!