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This cranberry and orange buttermilk breakfast cake is a great one to add to your holiday baking repertoire. It takes 10 minutes to prepare, and the batter can be stashed in the fridge and baked in the morning. What’s more, it serves 8 to 10 people (or even more if doubled), so it’s great for holiday entertaining.
In an effort to figure out what to bake on Christmas morning, I turned to an old standby, buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake, and swapped cranberries for the blueberries, orange zest for the lemon, and increased the sugar a teensy bit. It worked beautifully!
Not too sweet, festively studded with cranberries, this cake is a wonderful Christmas morning treat. Best of all, you can prepare the batter the night before and bake the cake in the morning. If you’re not a cranberry fan, you can use frozen blueberries, which work beautifully here, too.
5 Favorite Make-Ahead Cakes
Store batter in a tupperware overnight, then transfer to prepared pan in the morning:
Cranberry & Orange Buttermilk Breakfast Cake
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 8 to 10
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Notes: This recipe is essentially the Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake recipe but with cranberries swapped for the blueberries.
I’ve increased the sugar to 1 cup (from 7/8 cup) b/c cranberries are a bit tart and substituted orange zest for the lemon zest. If you don’t like cranberries, many people have had luck with frozen blueberries. Also, this batter can be prepared the night before.
Don’t store it in the pan you plan on baking it in — store it in tupperware of some sort, then transfer to a greased pan in the morning.
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- the zest from 1 orange zest
- 1 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups (256 g) flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- ½ cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with orange zest and 1 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the cranberries with 2 tablespoons of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the cranberries.
- Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes, then check for doneness by touching the top gently or by inserting a toothpick. If necessary, return pan to oven, check every five minutes or so — it took my cake a little bit over 45 minutes to cook. (Note: Baking for as long as 50 minutes might be necessary, especially if you made the batter in advance.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: breakfast, cake, buttermilk, cranberry, orange, brunch, holidays
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
ester says
Followed the recipe exactly as written, but the cake came out too dry, although I took it out of the oven after 35 minutes. Took the recipe from my friend- but hers was very moist. What should I change to have it more moist? Thanks
alexandra says
Hi Ester, it sounds as though you may have used too much flour. If you don’t use a scale to measure flour, try to measure scant cups. Or you may have used a different kind of buttermilk than your friend? A good, thicker buttermilk can make the difference, too.
Lisa says
Mine was dry, too. Had an excellent recipe a friend gave me many years ago but sadly I lost it. Have yet to find one that compares.
I may increase the buttermilk next time.
Kim Carr says
I made this recipe this morning. I found the batter to be very thick and difficult to put into the pan and spread. I am wondering if the amount of liquid is too little. Perhaps after I try this first batch I will add a full cup of buttermilk instead of a half cup. Did anyone else have a similar problem?
alexandra says
The batter definitely is on the the thick side! Though it does sound as though you may have used a heavier hand with the flour. Do you use a scale to measure the flour?
Kristi says
Could you add nuts? If so, what kind? Pecans, walnuts? How much would you add? And would you have to alter any other part of the recipe?
Diane says
I would like to know about nuts, also. I’m thinking walnuts….mmm.
alexandra says
Walnuts would be great … Start with a cup of toasted nuts. I would say max 1.5 cups toasted, chopped nuts.
Anita says
Sounds to me like white chocolate chips might be a great addition to these flavors…
alexandra says
Yes!
mary says
Can frozen cranberries be used? If so, can they remain frozen, or need to thaw first?
alexandra says
I’ve never used frozen, but I would imagine keeping them frozen would be just fine — this is what I do when I use frozen blueberries in the blueberry version of this cake.
Suzanne Lien says
Made this for Christmas morning and it’s was delicious! I did use Swan’sDown cake flour instead, following the substitution instructions on the box. It was light and moist and just the perfect amount of sweetness. A winning recipe!
alexandra says
Wonderful to hear this, Suzanne!
Savannagh Ryane says
Did cranberry and blueberry together! Yummy!
alexandra says
Yay!
Mary says
I made this exactly as written and I weighed the flour. It is a simple, tasty cake that is indeed perfect for breakfast. Two issues to mention: it’s true it’s not a supermoist style of cake—perhaps one could add yogurt or sour cream or a bit more fat/oil. Also, I refrigerated the batter overnight, and this made the batter very stiff and difficult to spread evenly in the pan. I carried on by patting it out with damp hands, but got batter all over me. I used frozen cranberries and they worked great.
★★★★
alexandra says
So happy to hear this, Mary! Bummer about the spreading issues, but glad you enjoyed the cake!
Mary Spain says
Can you use dried cranberries instead of fresh or frozen?
alexandra says
I worry dried cranberries will be too sweet. The fresh cranberries are a little tart, which balances out the sugar. I am all for giving things a go, however, so you could try it out and adjust from there depending on how you like it. Or you could reduce the sugar by a quarter cup and see how it goes.
Mary Spain says
I’ve made this recipe several times and it’s always a hit!
Thanks
alexandra says
So happy to hear this!
Joan says
When you say you can refrigerate the batter overnight–I guess you mean in a bowl or do you mean to spread it out into the baking dish or pan, cover and bake in the morning?
Thank you.
alexandra says
Hi Joan. I refrigerate the bowl I stirred the batter together in. Then I transfer it to a buttered baking dish in the morning. Honestly, I don’t see why, however, you couldn’t simply transfer it to the buttered baking dish and refrigerate. The batter is thick, so it will probably be fine. I think I always worry that the cranberries will sink to the bottom of the batter, which is why I transfer in the morning.
Heather Vaccaro says
I haven’t tried this yet, but it sounds AMAZING! Wondering if you think using canned whole cranberries would be a good alternative to fresh cranberries. I know my mom usually make cranberry orange muffins with the leftovers from Thanksgiving and it’s delicious. I’m going to try it as written, once my grocery store starts having the fresh cranberries available.
alexandra says
Heather, I can’t say for sure because I’ve never tried, but I’m always a fan of just going for it! Try it. I love your mother’s use of leftover cranberry sauce … brilliant!
Rhonda says
Do leftovers need to be refrigerated?
alexandra says
I don’t!
Laura says
I made this for my family on Thanksgiving and everyone loved it. I trust your recipes implicitly, I’ve never had one fail me.
Do you think this could be converted to muffins?
alexandra says
So happy to hear this, Laura! And yes, absolutely re muffins 🙂
Amy Irving says
Really simple to make and absolutely delicious. My entire family loved it!
★★★★★
alexandra says
Wonderful to hear this, Amy!
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a perfect dish to have prepped for Christmas morning! Great flavor combination!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! How far ahead of time can I make it?
Kay says
Great, not too sweet, easy!
★★★★★
Michelle says
My crew loved them as muffins! I made a little icing instead of the sugar sprinkles.
★★★★★
alexandra says
Yum!
Sophie says
Hi there,
I was wandering what type of flour and sugar you’re supposed to use? Thanks
alexandra says
Hi Sophie! I just use regular, granulated sugar.
Paula Haboian says
This coffee cake is delicious and helped me use up my frozen cranberries from Thanksgiving and my buttermilk from scones. Yes, the batter was difficult to spread, but it came out perfectly, and my family loved it. Thank you!
★★★★★
Paula says
This coffee cake is delicious and helped me use up my frozen cranberries from Thanksgiving and my buttermilk from scones. Yes, the batter was difficult to spread, but it came out perfectly, and my family loved it. Thank you!
★★★★★
alexandra says
So great to hear this, Paula!
Jackie says
My family loved this recipe. It is a keeper. It’s light and not to sweet. People get a scale and weight your flour!
★★★★★
alexandra says
Wonderful to hear this, Jackie! And I know, a scale makes ALL the difference. I wish I could give one to everyone I know.