Fresh Cranberry Cake

This cranberry cake recipe will be a welcome addition to your Thanksgiving table. Bursting with fruity flavor and topped with a decadent sauce, your family will ask for it year after year.

Cranberry Cake Ingredients

These are the ingredients you'll need to make the this easy cranberry cake recipe:

• Flour: This fresh cranberry cake recipe starts with all-purpose flour.
• Baking soda: Baking soda acts as a leavener, which means it helps the cake rise.
• Salt: A pinch of salt enhances the other flavors, but won't make your cake taste salty.
• Sugar: You'll need two cups of white sugar: one cup for the cake, one cup for the sauce.
• Butter: Butter adds richness, moisture, and flavor to the cake. It also goes into the creamy sauce.
• Eggs: Eggs lend moisture and help hold the cake batter together.
• Milk: A cup of milk gives the cake even more moisture and flavor.
• Cranberries: Opt for fresh cranberries that are firm, plump, and blemish-free.
• Heavy whipping cream: The sauce calls for ½ cup heavy whipping cream.
• Vanilla: A teaspoon of vanilla extract gives the sauce complexity and enhances the flavor.

How to Make Cranberry Cake

You'll find the full, step-by-step recipe below — but here's a brief overview of what you can expect when you make cranberry cake:

1. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another.
2. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Fold in the berries.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
4. Combine the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and cook until the sugar is dissolved.
5. Pour the hot sauce over the hot cake.

How to Store Cranberry Cake

Wrap the cooled cranberry cake tightly in storage wrap or place it in an airtight container. Store it at room temperature for up to one week.

Can You Freeze Cranberry Cake?

Yes! You can freeze cranberry cake for up to two months. Wrap it in multiple layers of storage wrap, followed by a layer of aluminum foil. Thaw at room temperature in its wrapping.

Cookdap Community Tips and Praise

"I have some very picky dessert eaters in my family and they loved this cake so much that I’ve already been asked to make it again," says Pearl Glisson. "It was a good balance of sweet and sour and was perfectly moist."

"My family loved this cake," according to mehrotrakirti. "I made it for Thanksgiving and it was the perfect cranberry dessert."

"I made this yesterday and the family loved it," raves Nancy Warren. "The only alteration I made was to add a tsp of Saigon cinnamon to the dry ingredients because I love the taste of cranberries and cinnamon."