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You are here: Home / Breakfast / Cranberry Bundt Cake

Cranberry Bundt Cake

December 20, 2017 By Sam 16 Comments

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A soft, festive cranberry bundt cake!  This super soft and simple to make bundt cake is made with cream cheese and buttermilk, is packed with fresh cranberries, and then is drizzled with a white chocolate ganache glaze.  

Cranberry Bundt Cake

There are only 5 days left until Christmas and I can’t even wrap my head around that right now.  5 days!  Are you ready?

I know that I’m not ready for Christmas to be over, I’ve had so much fun preparing for the holiday with so many cookie recipes, (like my sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies, which are going bonkers right now, thank you to everyone who has tried them!), and it’s my favorite time of year to be in the kitchen.  January and February may still be snowy and cold, but it’s just not the same without the Christmas tree lit up or Christmas music playing.

For one of my last pre-Christmas recipes this year, I made this beautiful, festive, Cranberry Bundt Cake, packed with bright red cranberries and drizzled with a white chocolate ganache.

A slice of cranberry bundt cake

I adapted this cranberry bundt cake from my popular coffee cake recipe.  I know I’ve talked about that recipe plenty of times before (most recently in my YouTube video!), but this cake base is one of my proudest accomplishments.  It took me a long time to find a base that I was happy with, one that was soft and moist, but also stable and dense (as a coffee cake or bundt cake should be), and this one checks all the boxes.

Cranberry Bundt Cake cooling on cooling rack

There are a lot of reasons this cake is so soft and irresistible, but I credit it mostly to the fact that I use a whole 8 oz brick of cream cheese in the batter. The texture is also aided by the addition of cornstarch (a staple in nearly all of my baked goods), more brown sugar than white sugar, and buttermilk (I have a simple buttermilk substitute if you don’t keep buttermilk in your fridge)

All of these ingredients come together to give the cake an unbelievable texture and taste.  I literally could not stop eating it and wrapped it up for my mom in between bites just to get it out of my house.  Addictive.

Two slices of cranberry bundt cake

Enjoy!

I’ll be going Live tomorrow on Facebook at 1:00 EST to make my “Worst” Chocolate Chip Cookies.  As usual, I’ll be baking with my little sister, Andi.  I hope you’ll stop by and say hi! 

Overhead image of sliced, iced cranberry bundt cake

Cranberry Bundt Cake with White Chocolate Glaze

A soft, festive cranberry bundt cake!  
5 from 4 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: bundt cake, cake recipe, Cranberry Bundt Cake
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes
Cool Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 12 slices
Calories: 493kcal
Author: Sam Merritt

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened (113g)
  • 8 oz cream cheese softened (225g)
  • 1 cup light brown sugar tightly packed (200g)
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (335g)
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk (120ml)
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (if using fresh, make sure to rinse and inspect them) (200g)

White Chocolate Glaze

  • 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (255g)
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream (80ml)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and lightly grease and flour a bundt pan.  Set aside.
  • In KitchenAid mixer, or with electric mixer in large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese.
  • Beat in sugars until light and fluffy.
  • Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of mixing bowl with rubber spatula.
  • Stir in vanilla extract.
  • In separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cornstarch and salt.
  • Gradually add flour mixture to wet mixture, alternating with buttermilk, until all of the flour mixture and buttermilk have been combined.  Batter will be thick.
  • Fold in cranberries (do this by hand, as the mixer may squish the berries)
  • Evenly spread batter into prepared bundt pan.  Bake on 350F (175C) for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake (preferably in a crack) comes out mostly clean with no wet batter.
  • Allow cake to cool in the bundt pan for 15 minutes before carefully inverting onto a cooling rack to cool completely.  Allow cake to cool completely before adding white chocolate.

White Chocolate Glaze

  • Combine heavy cream and white chocolate chips in a small saucepan over low heat.
  • Stir frequently until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth.  
  • Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes (if you pour it right away the glaze will be extremely thin and will mostly slide right off your cake), stirring occasionally, before pouring over your completely cooled bundt cake.
  • Allow glaze to set before cutting and serving.  

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 493kcal | Carbohydrates: 62g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 209mg | Potassium: 255mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 650IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 141mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!

An overhead view of cranberry bundt cake covered in white chocolate glaze

Filed Under: Breads, Breakfast, Cake

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Comments

  1. Ashley says

    December 25, 2020 at 1:27 am

    5 stars
    This was a fun cake to make! We really enjoyed the cake itself and we thought that it didn’t really need a glaze at first because it was so good on its own!. But I definitely think the glaze helps make it more complete and complements the cranberries…so yum. The directions are very detailed and I always come back to your website because I trust that you know what you are doing! So thank you for another awesome recipe.

    Reply
    • Sam says

      December 26, 2020 at 10:51 am

      Thank you so much, Ashley! I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake so much and I’m very honored to be a trusted recipe resource. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Cary Jo Snyder Milosh says

    December 2, 2020 at 10:55 pm

    Think this could be made gluten free. with 1 to 1 flour? Sound wonderful.

    Reply
    • Sam says

      December 3, 2020 at 4:47 pm

      Hmmm I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure. If you do try it I would love to know how it turns out. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Sonja Caywood says

    November 29, 2020 at 10:51 am

    5 stars
    When my daughter made this, I thought it looked a bit heavy, but it is the best cake I’ve ever had! Absolutely delicious! It reminds me a bit of a shortbread in its flavor and the cranberries and white chocolate ganache add the perfect burst of flavor to complement it!

    Reply
    • Sam says

      November 29, 2020 at 9:28 pm

      I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sonja! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Kassy Stewart says

    December 28, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    Hi again Sam ~ i love looking through your recipe’s for more inspiration. This recipe looks easy and fun. But, instead of fresh fruits I have a can of blueberries and would like to use that. Do you think that using the syrup in the can would be ok or should I use just the berries? I look forward to your response, thank you.

    Reply
    • Sugar Spun Run says

      December 28, 2019 at 8:57 pm

      Thank you so much, Kassy! I am so glad that you find inspiration in my recipes. I haven’t tried canned blueberries, but I think that it should work fine. I would drain them first, as I’d be afraid adding the syrup would make your batter too watery and not a good consistency. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Sylvia Mastrantonio says

    December 18, 2019 at 2:49 pm

    5 stars
    I made this yesterday. And are now having some. OMG ! This is beyond awesome. Total perfection ! Another winner again, Sam ! Love all your recipes. This is the first time for me making this, and this is amazing !

    Reply
    • Sugar Spun Run says

      December 18, 2019 at 3:17 pm

      Thank you so much, Sylvia! I am so glad that you enjoyed the cranberry bundt cake! Thanks for trying my other recipes and for commenting. 🙂

      Reply
  6. Gabby Hussey says

    October 24, 2019 at 4:59 am

    5 stars
    Hello Sam, I have already made this delicious Bundt cake and I was a huge success specially with my husband (which is a lot to say as he’s extremely picky) anyway, since I loved how soft and moist this cake turned out to be, on my second cake I used this identical recipe but instead of cranberries I added 200gr of blueberries along with zest of 2 lemons.. also came out PERFECT. Now, my question is, I don’t have cream cheese in my fridge all the time and going to the shop last minute can be difficult, is there any advice you can offer? If I omit the cream cheese would it make a huge difference? Thank you in advance for your help.
    Greetings from London UK.

    Reply
    • Sugar Spun Run says

      October 24, 2019 at 5:41 am

      Hello, Gabby! I am so happy that the Cranberry Bundt Cake has been such a hit in your home. I love the substitution of blueberries and lemon zest. What a wonderful flavor combo! I personally have not tried it, but others have substituted the cream cheese with plain yogurt. The ratio is 1:1. If you try it, let me know how it works for you. The cream cheese really helps make this cake soft and moist so I recommend adding it in. I hope this helps! Happy Baking. 🙂

      Reply
  7. Annette says

    December 20, 2017 at 3:26 pm

    This looks delicious. I have fresh cranberries I put in the freezer. Do I need to thaw them before adding them to the batter?

    Reply
    • Sam says

      December 20, 2017 at 11:08 pm

      Nope! You can add them frozen. I hope you love the cake! 🙂

      Reply
    • Terri says

      December 23, 2017 at 5:29 pm

      Hi Sam thank you for the recipe. Could I use almond extract instead?

      Reply
      • Sam says

        December 24, 2017 at 1:12 pm

        Sure! It would alter the taste a bit and almond extract is fairly strong so I’d start by using about half the amount of almond extract as you would vanilla and going from there. I hope that helps!

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The author (Sam) in blue shirt holding donut Hi, I'm Sam! I'm dedicated to bringing you sweet, simple, and from-scratch dessert recipes. My life may or may not be controlled by my sweet tooth. Send help (or chocolate). Read more about me.

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