Cranberry Orange Loaf – A sweet bread flavored with fresh orange zest and loaded with cranberries. Topped with a sweet orange icing and candied orange slices and cranberries.
Fruit is hard to come by this time of year, which is hard for me because baking with fruit it one of my favorite things. But once again, I was reminded of the lovely cranberry. I have made desserts with cranberries (and even some drinks!) and they add such a lovely tartness to sweet treats. And when paired with orange, the flavor is unstoppable.
That is why I chose to make a Cranberry Orange Loaf. It reminds me of cranberry orange muffins that I used to love from Starbucks. Not only does the cranberry add tart flavor, but it also leaves the center extremely moist that it’s impossible to put down once you’ve had a bite.
To give this loaf a sophisticated feel, I added candied orange slices and cranberries on top. The fruit is cooked to remove the bitterness and then it’s soaked in a simple syrup to make them sweet. Don’t they add such a beautiful look?
Making this loaf
The process of making this loaf can be split up into two parts:
- Making the cake
- Making the topping
The cake is the easy part -it’s a simple cake batter made with the typical cast of ingredients. Flour, sugar, butter, and milk are all used in this recipe, along with orange juice, orange zest, and cranberries.
No sinking cranberries
Do you see how there are cranberries all through the loaf? That means that the batter was thick enough to hold the cranberries in place so they wouldn’t sink to the bottom. For a little added insurance, the cranberries are lightly coated in a little flour to help them stay in place.
Topping the loaf
Once the cake is baked and slightly cooled, it’s time to top with an orange icing. The icing is simply made with orange juice, orange zest, and powder sugar. It’s kept thick enough so that it will set firm, but loose enough so that it drizzles.
Candied orange slices and cranberries
The final decoration is the candied fruit. It’s a simple process but it does take some time. I recommend starting this while the cake is baking so that they’re ready once the cake is finished and beginning to cool.
The process goes like this:
- Cooking the fruit – The fruit is cooked to remove the bitter flavor. The cranberries will turn the water pink but that’s okay. The oranges will get a nice reddish hue, that’s perfect for the decoration.
- Soaking in syrup – The cooked fruit is then soaked in a syrup to give it sweetness.
- Coating in sugar – After the fruit is soaked in syrup, it’s drained to remove the excess liquid and then rolled in granulated sugar.
Tips and Tricks
- To be efficient with your time, make the candied fruit while the cake is baking. They should be done when you need them for topping the cake after cooling.
- I have only tried this recipe with fresh cranberries. Frozen berries may work, but I recommend thawing them and draining the excess liquid.
- Make sure to test the center of the cake with a toothpick before removing from the oven. It may look done but the center will still be slightly raw. If the cake is browning fast but the center is not done, you can cover with aluminum foil to keep it from browning any more.
Cranberry Orange Loaf
Ingredients
For the loaf:
- 1½ cups plus ½ tablespoon all-purpose flour divided
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons butter unsalted, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup milk
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
For the topping:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- ¼ teaspoon fresh orange zest
- 1 medium orange
- ½ cup fresh cranberries
- 1¼ cup granulated sugar divided
- 1 cup water
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan and set aside. Add flour, baking powder, and salt to a medium bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
- Add softened butter and granulated sugar to a bowl of a stand mixer. Beat together on medium until a paste forms. This will take about 3 minutes. On low, add eggs, one at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix to ensure it's all combined.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the bowl and mix on low until combined. Add orange juice, zest, and milk to the batter and mix on low until combined. Add the rest of the flour and mix on low just until combined. Mix cranberries with ½ tablespoon of flour and gently fold them into the batter. Pour batter into greased loaf pan and spread into an even layer.
- Bake in preheated oven for 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center. while the cake is baking, make the candy fruit topping using the recipe below.
- When cake is done, remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Use a knife to release the edges of the cake from the pan. Flip pan to release cake and finish cooling on a wire rack. When it's barely warm, cover with icing (recipe below), candied orange slices, and candied cranberries (recipe below).
For the icing:
- Add 1 tablespoon of orange juice to powdered sugar and zest in a small bowl. If it's too thick, add a little bit more juice until it slowly runs down a spoon.
For the candied oranges and cranberries:
- Slice orange into ¼-inch slices. Place in a large sauce pan with ½ cup of cranberries. Fill with water until the slices are covered. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.
- Add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of granulated sugar to a skillet. Stir together and place over medium heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, add drained orange slices and cranberries. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the orange slices are translucent. Let cool in the syrup and then drain on paper towels for about 20 minutes.
- Once the fruit is drained, dip in remaining granulated sugar. Pick the prettiest pieces to decorate the cake. Some of the cranberries will have deflated so just use the ones that still look great.
Notes
Pin for later:
More recipes you’ll love:
Cranberry Apple Crumble
Blackberry Skillet Pound Cake
Roasted Strawberry Bundt Cake
What a beautiful loaf. Looks amazing, flavorful, moist and delicious. I have to bake it for my family.
This loaf looks so yummy! I can’t wait to try it to use up all my fresh cranberries! It’ll be so perfect for Christmas morning.
I have made many cranberry orange breads and this one is definitely the best. It has just the right mixture of sweet and tart, and it’s so moist! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Wow, this cranberry orange loaf is really getting me into the Christmas mood! This looks super delicious and I can’t wait to make this. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Cranberries and oranges are a match made in baking heaven! This loaf is so flavorful and so perfectly tender. I’m happy to devour it from breakfast to dessert!
What a lovely beautiful loaf cake. I love how you used the candied fruit. Spectacular presentation, and I can smell all those fresh joyful aromas. Well done!
Love the sweet tart combo of cranberries and orange. This cake is easy to make and perfect for the holidays!
These loaf looks really delicious. I love the simplicity of it. Looks easy to bake too.
Make this to go with your morning coffee like I did. Could easily make a great dessert too!
I love the beautiful dots of cranberries all over the bread! This bread is totally bursting with delicious flavors!
Wow this looks so good! Perfect for the holidays!
Delicious!!! The presentation is beautiful and the taste is to die for! I’ve been asked to make this again at our next family gathering.
This was such a moist and flavorful quick loaf! Love the pairing of cranberry and orange, it was perfectly sweet and went great with my morning coffee!
This cranberry loaf is super flavorful. Perfect accompaniment to a coffee or tea.
So good! This loaf was moist and delicious. And the tip to keep my cranberries from sinking worked like a charm. Thanks!
Cranberry and orange make such a great combo, especially during the holidays!
Those candies oranges look amazing I must give your recipe a try this season since I love both cranberries and oranges.
I used to love those starbucks muffins! I love cranberry flavor – so wintery and yum! Good tip on making sure the cranberries don’t all fall to the bottom – love that! I need to do some more baking this season
I wish I could smell this post! It looks amazing and I cannot wait to make this with my aunt this weekend.
I love that this cranberry orange loaf is made with fresh cranberries. I have a ton of fresh cranberries from a shopping spree and have so many leftover.