Tart fresh cranberries and sweet buttery cake are perfectly combined in this popular Christmas dessert!
Prep time: PT20M
Cook time: PT45M
Total time: PT65M
Rating
4.88 stars (1090 reviews)
Keywords
Cranberry Cake
Ingredients
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour * (see note below for gluten-free alternative)
12 oz fresh cranberries
Categories
Dessert
Cuisine
American
Steps
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar until slightly thickened and light in color, about 5-7 minutes. The mixture should almost double in size. The eggs work as your leavening agent in this recipe, so do not skip this step. This mixture should form a ribbon when you lift the beaters out of the bowl.
Add the butter and vanilla; mix two more minutes. Stir in the flour until just combined. Add the cranberries and stir to mix throughout.
Spread in a buttered 9x13 pan. (This pan is my favorite!) Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean. (I baked mine for 43 minutes.)
Let cool completely before cutting into small slices. I cut mine into fairly small pieces, about 1"x2", so that they could be easily eaten at a party. Enjoy!
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 252 kcal
Carbohydrates: 39 g
Protein: 2 g
Fat: 9 g
Saturated Fat: 5 g
Cholesterol: 53 mg
Sodium: 88 mg
Sugar: 25 g
Reviews
Traevynn on 2025-09-07 (5 stars): Baked this recipe again tonight but made muffins this time and used mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries). *Doubled* the recipe and substituted a few things: egg whites for two of the whole eggs, decreased the sugar by 25% and used both cane sugar and caster sugar mixed together (half of each). Due to the extra amounts of eggs and sugar, I mixed the two for a lot longer - almost 15 minutes to get the correct texture to the batter.
I filled both extra large muffin tins and regular size muffin tins and baked for 25 - 35 minutes at 360 degrees F. The large muffins fell apart after removing from the tins, I won't be doing those again. The regular size muffins did much better. I filled the tins more than the suggested 3/4 full because without traditional leavening ingredients, they weren't going to rise much. They did fine with no overflow occurring. I ended up with about 40 muffins using the doubled recipe.
Overall, I like this cake better with cranberries, but the berry medley makes for a nice change when there aren't cranberries available (and what's up with that!?). Muffins take more work to fill the baking tins but the portion size is better for those of us with questionable willpower. ;D
Jasmine on 2025-08-30 (5 stars): I've been making this for a long time and it's by far my most requested recipe! I tweak it juuuust a little and add the zest of an orange... heaven!
Mary on 2025-08-20 (5 stars): Love this recipe! I did bake it in small Bundt pans, made great gifts!
Maggie on 2025-07-31 (5 stars): Love this recipe!
Love this cake!
Everyone I serve it to love it, too.
Lois Allegretto on 2025-06-14 (5 stars): Casting about for “a little something to have on hand if company drops by tomorrow”…I haven’t made this beautiful cake in about 18 months, and kind of forgot how much we enjoy it. When my husband realized I’m making it, he was just delighted! Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
NurseB on 2025-06-06 (5 stars): I made this delicious cake today! Today was the fourth time I’ve made it and it always comes out perfect, even though I cut back on the sugar…. I only use 1 1/2 cups. I’ve taken your advice and keep a stash of fresh cranberries in the freezer. I just love having a piece of this cake in the morning with my coffee! Perfect! Thank you for the recipe!
Joan on 2025-05-31 (5 stars): Would the 12 oz cranberry/ 2 cups sugar ratio be the same using blueberries?
