A soft and fluffy almond-flavored cake filled with fresh cranberries and topped with a buttery almond streusel. A delicious and comforting breakfast or dessert for the holiday season.
You are looking at the reason I am currently stockpiling cranberries. You are also looking at the BEST thing to come out of my kitchen in weeks (months?).
A fluffy almond cake studded with fresh cranberries, topped with an almond streusel and drizzled with almond icing – like, I can barely write that without licking my computer screen. Gah! This is the cake for almond lovers! Pssst…If you love almond, you’ll go crazy for these Almond Croissants and Almond Cake, too.
Can this be breakfast? YES!
Can this be dessert? YES!
Should you make this and then invite me over to share it with you? Also, YES!
I am writing this post on a sugar high, nibbling bits of sugared almonds off the plate in front of me. I have consumed so many pieces of cake that I’m embarrassed to put the actual number on this page. Cake makes me happy, and I’m working on living my best holiday-life. ‘Tis the season!
Almond Cranberry Cake
- This cake starts with a soft and fluffy sour cream cake. The cake batter is flavored with vanilla and plenty of almond extract. The sour cream keeps it fluffy and moist, and keeps it from being too sweet.
- The cake batter is filled with beautiful fresh cranberries. 1 1/2 cups of cranberries add a pop of color and distinct tart flavor.
- The cake batter gets topped with a sweet and buttery almond crumble made from sliced almonds, butter, sugar, and flour.
- After baking, drizzle the cake with almond icing … and enjoy a big slice while it’s still warm.
This cake can be served for breakfast alongside a cup of coffee or tea. It can also be dessert, topped with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.
Can You Freeze Cranberry Cake?
You sure can, friends. I tightly wrapped leftover slices of this cake and they freeze beautifully. Bonus: You can freeze slices and thaw them everytime you need a sweet treat (read: every single day, if you’re me).
The combination of cranberry and almond is basically a match made heaven. I mean, after trying this I am basically giving the cranberry-orange combo the boot. CRANBERRY-ALMOND is where it’s at!
MORE CRANBERRY RECIPES: CRANBERRY FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE – APPLE CIDER CRANBERRY SAUCE – APPLE CRANBERRY BREAD – CRANBERRY BLISS BARS – CRANBERRY SALAD
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Almond Cranberry Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour*
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 teaspoons almond extract
- 2/3 cup sour cream thick sour cream is best
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
Almond Topping:
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
Icing:
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons milk
- drop almond extract
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 6 tablespoons butter and 2/3 cup sugar for several minutes, until creamy and well combined. Add eggs, vanilla and almond extract. Beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Beat until just combined. Add the sour cream and 2 tablespoons milk, beating until combined. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients. Add the cranberries and use a rubber spatula to gently fold them into the batter.
- Grease a 9x9** square baking pan. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Make topping.
Topping:
- Combine butter, sugar, flour, and almond extract. Use a fork to stir and mash the butter into the dry ingredients. Add the sliced almonds and mix until combined. Sprinkle the topping over the top of the cake batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the cake pan on a wire rack to cool.
Icing:
- Whisk all icing ingredients. Adjust the consistency as necessary by adding more powdered sugar or milk. Drizzle over the top of the cake.
Barb says
Can this be made into a 13 x 8 pan?
Celebrating Sweets says
It will be quite thin if you put it in a 13×8. You are probably best doubling it for that sized pan, but I think you will have more cake batter than necessary. If I were to try it, I would probably reserve a cup or so of batter (use it for muffins?) so the cake isn’t too thick.
Ann says
I made this today, and it is fantastic! I only had frozen cranberries, but it still turned out great. The almond and cranberry flavors work so great together! I will be making this next Thanksgiving–it is a keeper! Thanks for the recipe.
Celebrating Sweets says
Hi, Ann. I’m glad that you liked it. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy New Year! -Allison
Libbi says
Made this last night, bake time was closer to 50 minutes, as at 25 minutes it was still almost liquid. The cake was a little dry around the outside thought due to the long baking time.
Celebrating Sweets says
Did you use a 9×9 square pan, as the recipe stated? If you used an 8×8 pan the cake will be so thick that it will take significantly longer to cook, and that will lead to dryness around the outside.
Maria says
Mine took about 45 minutes too. Very delicious though. I added orange zest to the glaze.
Patricia Carbone says
Can I use dried cranberries?
Celebrating Sweets says
You probably can, but I’m not sure how they will hold up after spending so long in the oven. My worry is that they might dry out. If you try it, please let me know how it goes.
Diane says
Just made this today and it is so delicious. I just can’t figure out how you can make this in a 9×9 and bake it for only 25-30 min. I did not have a 9×9 so made it in a 9×11 and it took 40 min to get done in the center. The outer edges were dark and a bit dry but the rest of the cake was perfect and I even used frozen cranberries.
Celebrating Sweets says
Hi, Diane. Different ovens can can bake faster/slower, and different bakeware (metal vs glass) can bake at a different rate, this could be part of the reason for the difference in bake time. Also, the fact that you used frozen cranberries will definitely require a longer bake time. Your cake batter was significantly colder than mine going into the oven, so it would have taken longer to bake. Hope that helps. I’m glad you enjoyed it, and I’m glad that it worked with frozen cranberries. Enjoy!
Diane says
Ok that I never thought of and you are right the frozen berries would take the batter longer to warm up to bake. I learned something new which is a good thing. Thanks for taking the time to reply
Laura says
I made this recipe today it took nearly an hour to bake and it was still all raw in the middle, not to mention the streusel topping sunk into the cake.I’m an experienced Baker I don’t know what the heck went wrong ,my ingredients were precise, and I used the right size pan.
Celebrating Sweets says
Hi, Laura. I’m so sorry to hear that. I just made this cake again recently with no trouble.
Are you 100% sure that your baking pan is a 9×9 and NOT an 8×8? This cake is very thick, and if it is baked in an 8×8 pan it will take a long time to bake through, and the extra batter will likely “swallow” the crumb topping as it rises (since the pan is overfilled). Although some recipes allow you to use an 8×8 and 9×9 pan interchangeably, this one is definitely intended for a 9×9.
Also, if your cranberries were frozen, that would have added to the bake time as well.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Karen says
The only problem with this recipe is that my husband says every time he walks into the kitchen he HAS to have another slice. I did substitute yogurt for the sour cream (cause at 6 am when I decided to make this I didn’t realize that we had no sour cream – a rarity) and used buttermilk for the milk to help with the tang.
I didn’t make the drizzle and it’s great without!
Used fresh cranberries and a heavy-ish metal pan that was slightly tapered 8.5″ measured across the bottom and 9″ across the top. At 25 minutes it was still wet at 35 minutes it was perfect!
Thanks for a recipe that’s a keeper!
Celebrating Sweets says
Hi, Karen. Thanks for the kind review. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Happy holidays! -Allison