Easy Cranberry Orange Loaf Cake with Orange Glaze

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This cranberry orange loaf cake is a celebration of winter fruit flavor. The orange zest in the cake gives the crumb the taste of ripe winter citrus, and the fresh cranberries are bursting with a satisfying tartness and punch. The whole loaf cake gets coated in an orange glaze for additional crisp, sunny notes. It’s moist, tangy, and just the right amount of sweet.

Loaf of cranberry orange cake on a small white platter, decorated with dried orange slices and sugared cranberries.

Why You’ll Love This Cake

Fresh orange flavor with bursts of cranberry. The fruity flavors in this cake are bright and bold and fresh. You definitely need to make this if you’re a fan of the cranberry orange combo.
No need for thick frosting, just a little orange glaze. We love a good frosting as much as the next person, but sometimes, a sweet, light glaze is all you need. This glaze is made extra delicious by the addition of orange zest and juice.
No complicated steps, layering, or decorating required. Loaf cakes are so great because they’re soooo easy. All you need to do is mix everything together, pop it in a loaf pan, bake it, then spread a little orange glaze on top. No fancy techniques or layering or fuss required.
Nice, soft crumb without being heavy. The orange zest and sour cream keep this cake moist and light. Not dense at all.
Great beginner cake recipe. This is a great one to make if you’re just starting out baking or if you want to involve young ones more in the kitchen.

Close up view of two slices of cranberry orange loaf cake cut from the larger loaf.

A Note About Cake Pans

When you’re making cake, it’s a good idea to try to use the same size pan as the one used by the recipe creator. Depending on the size of your pan, you may end up with a shorter or taller cake and potentially different baking results. For this recipe, we used a 9×5 inch loaf pan, which holds about 8 cups of batter. If you use a smaller loaf pan (like 8.5 x 4.5 inches), that will fit about 6 cups of batter, so you’ll be left with extra batter. If you don’t have a 9×5 inch loaf pan, you can use a round 9 inch cake pan (2 inches tall/deep) or a square 8×8 inch (2 inches tall/deep) pan instead. Just note that because those are differently shaped pans with more surface area and various dimensions, the baking time may be different. Learn more about pan sizes and conversions here.

Ingredients in Cranberry Orange Loaf Cake

Dry ingredients – you’ll need all-purpose flour, both baking soda and baking powder, and salt.
Wet ingredients – these include granulated sugar, orange zest, orange juice, melted butter, sour cream, and eggs.
Cranberries – mix the fresh cranberries with 1 tablespoon of flour to help keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
Glaze – made with powdered sugar, orange juice, orange zest, and a pinch of salt.

One slide of cranberry orange loaf cake on a white plate with a gold fork on the side.

How to Make This Cranberry Orange Loaf Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray or butter a 9×5 inch loaf pan and line it with parchment paper, leaving a little overhang on 2 of the sides.
Toss the cranberries with 1 tablespoon of flour.
Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
In a separate large bowl, add the sugar and zest of 1 orange and rub them together with your fingers. This will help infuse the sugar with the orange flavor.

Two images: on left showing orange zest and sugar rubbed together by fingers, on right showing orange zest and sugar blended together in a bowl.

Mix the melted butter, orange juice, and sour cream with the sugar, then mix in the eggs and vanilla.
Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined, then gently fold the floured cranberries into the cake batter.

Grid of 4 images: top left showing sour cream mixing with sugars in a bowl, top right showing eggs and vanilla adding in, bottom left showing flour sprinkling in, and bottom right showing floured cranberries mixing in.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. It should fill the pan about ⅔ full and bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean and the middle looks cooked through.

Cranberry orange loaf cake batter in a loaf pan before baking.

Remove the cake from the oven, let it rest for 10 minutes, then gently lift the cake out of the loaf pan and place it on a wire rack or serving dish to cool.
While the cake cools, whisk together the glaze ingredients. Pour glaze over the cooled cake. Decorate with sugared cranberries and candied orange slices, if desired.

Our Tips for Cranberry Orange Loaf Cake

Rachel and Emily from Cooking with Conks, standing side-by-side in green and yellow aprons.

Don’t overmix the cake batter. Only mix until everything is just incorporated to avoid gummy cake.
Coat the cranberries in flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom. This will help them stay in the middle of the cake. If they do sink a little, though, that’s okay too.
Rub the zest into the sugar to help it be more flavorful. The oils in the zest will coat the grains of sugar and infuse the cake with even more orange flavor.

Butter or spray your pan and line it with parchment for easy removal. If you’re making a cake, you know that there’s nothing worse than when it doesn’t come out of the pan after it’s baked. Buttering or greasing the pan and then lining it with parchment, leaving a little overhang on 2 of the sides, will help make it easier to remove the cake.
Measure your flour by weight. This will ensure that your cake turns out the way the recipe creator (in this case, us) intended it. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, the best alternative to measuring by weight is to fluff your flour in the container, then add individual spoonfuls of flour to your measuring cup. When you get to the top of the measuring cup, use a knife or another flat tool to scrape away extra flour and level off the top. This will give you a fairly accurate measurement.

Top down view of cranberry orange loaf cake topped with dried orange slices and sugared cranberries, with two slices of the cake cut on the bottom.

Serving and Storage Suggestions

We like to slice this loaf cake up into individual pieces and serve it as a light dessert after dinner. It also is a great treat to have with your afternoon cup of tea. To store it, we suggest either wrapping it tightly with plastic wrap and then wrapping it in foil to keep it from drying out, or you can place it in a large airtight storage container. It can be kept at room temperature for 3 to 4 days, or in the fridge for up to a week.

FAQs: Cranberry Orange Loaf Cake

No. We love the combo of cranberries and orange, but you can absolutely use another fruit like blueberries instead. Or skip the berries and use chocolate chips.

Sure! The glaze adds a nice sweet orange flavor but the cake tastes great without it too.

If you can’t get fresh cranberries, you can use frozen, but don’t thaw them first. If you do, they’ll add too much unwanted water to your cake (and they make it look like a crime scene). You could use dried cranberries too, but you might want to rehydrate them first by soaking them in warm water or even orange juice so that they plump up a bit. If you’re using dried cranberries, we suggest reducing the amount to ⅔ or ¾ cup instead of a full cup because they’re sweeter, more concentrated in flavor, and have a different volume than fresh or frozen.

Yes. This cake would fit into a 9 inch round cake pan that is 2 inches tall, or an 8 inch square cake pan that’s also 2 inches tall. The baking times may vary, however, due to the different dimensions of the pan, so start checking the doneness after 30 minutes.

Equipment

1 9×5 inch loaf pan

Ingredients

Cake

1 cup fresh cranberries + 1 tbsp flour
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled (218g)
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
Zest of 1 orange (about 1 to 2 tbsp zest)
½ cup butter, melted (113.5g)
⅓ cup orange juice (about 82ml)
⅓ cup sour cream (76g)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar (113g)
2 tbsp orange juice
½ tbsp orange zest
Pinch of Salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray or butter a 9×5 inch loaf pan and line it with parchment paper, leaving a little overhang on 2 of the sides.
Toss the cranberries with 1 tablespoon of flour.
1 cup fresh cranberries + 1 tbsp flour
Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) in a bowl and set aside.
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled (218g), 1 tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp sea salt
In a separate large bowl, add the sugar and zest of 1 orange and rub them together with your fingers. This will help infuse the sugar with the orange flavor.
1 cup granulated sugar (200g), Zest of 1 orange (about 1 to 2 tbsp zest)
Mix the melted butter, orange juice, and sour cream with the sugar, then mix in the eggs and vanilla.
½ cup butter, melted (113.5g), ⅓ cup orange juice (about 82ml), ⅓ cup sour cream (76g), 2 eggs, 2 tsp vanilla extract
Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined, then gently fold the floured cranberries into the cake batter.
1 cup fresh cranberries + 1 tbsp flour
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. It should fill the pan about ⅔ full and bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean and the middle looks cooked through.
Remove the cake from the oven, let it rest for 10 minutes, then gently lift the cake out of the loaf pan and place it on a wire rack or serving dish to cool.
While the cake cools, whisk together the glaze ingredients. Pour glaze over the cooled cake. Decorate with sugared cranberries and candied orange slices, if desired.
1 cup powdered sugar (113g), 2 tbsp orange juice, ½ tbsp orange zest, Pinch of Salt

Final Thoughts

There’s honestly nothing like the smell of sweet treats baking during cold, rainy (or snowy, depending on where you live) winter months. This cake fills your home with the sweet aroma of citrus, tart cranberries, and sugary batter. (Sorry, we can’t stop gushing about it because we love it so much.) If you make this cake, let us know how it turned out! We always love hearing from you.

More Sweet Treats for Your Holiday Table

Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls (these are seriously the best cinnamon rolls we’ve had)
Chocolate Peppermint Fudge (creamy, dreamy, and so pepperminty)
Gingerbread Muddy Buddies (a fun twist on a classic sweet snack with an extra dash of whimsy)
Almond Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate and Cherries (an egg-free cookie with tons of flavor and buttery goodness)
Fudgy Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies (if a fudgy brownie and chewy cookie had a baby)