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Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake

Tender orange-scented bundt cake studded with tart cranberries, drenched in a bright orange glaze and crowned with sparkling sugared cranberries. It looks like a holiday showpiece and bakes in one pan — the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas dessert everyone asks for the recipe for.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 slices
Calories 418 kcal

Ingredients
  

Cake

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon fresh orange zest from about 2 oranges
  • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
  • 1 cup full-fat sour cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour for tossing the cranberries

Orange glaze

  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar sifted
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest

Sugared cranberries (optional)

  • 1 cup fresh cranberries
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar plus 1/2 cup for rolling

Instructions
 

  • Heat the oven and prep the pan: preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 12-cup bundt pan thoroughly with baking spray or butter, getting into every flute, then dust lightly with flour and tap out the excess.
  • Whisk the dry ingredients: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  • Cream the butter, sugar, and zest: in a large bowl, beat the softened butter with the sugar and orange zest on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes, until pale and fluffy. The zest rubbed into the sugar releases the orange oils and perfumes the whole cake.
  • Add the eggs and vanilla: beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, scraping down the bowl as needed.
  • Alternate wet and dry: mix in the sour cream and orange juice, then add the dry ingredients in two additions, mixing on low just until no flour streaks remain. Do not overmix.
  • Fold in the cranberries: toss the cranberries with 1 tablespoon of flour, then fold them gently into the batter with a spatula.
  • Fill and bake: spread the batter evenly in the prepared bundt pan and smooth the top. Bake at 350°F for 55 to 60 minutes, until a long toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (check a few spots — you may hit a berry).
  • Cool and release: cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely, about 1 hour. A fully cooled cake glazes cleanly; a warm cake melts the glaze off.
  • Glaze and garnish: whisk the powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons of orange juice, and the zest until smooth and pourable, adding the last tablespoon of juice only if needed. Drizzle over the cooled cake so it drips down the flutes, then crown with sugared cranberries if using.

Notes

Grease every flute of the bundt pan — a missed crevice is how bundt cakes stick. Baking spray with flour is the most reliable option.
 
Do not thaw frozen cranberries. Frozen berries hold their shape and bleed less; thawed berries turn the batter pink and sink.
 
Cool 20 minutes in the pan, no longer. Too short and the cake breaks; too long and the sugar sets and glues the cake to the pan.
 
Glaze only a fully cooled cake. On a warm cake the glaze slides straight off instead of setting in glossy drips.
 
This cake is a make-ahead star: bake up to 2 days ahead, keep covered at room temperature, and glaze the day you serve it. It also freezes unglazed for up to 2 months.
Keyword cranberry orange bundt cake