This beautiful holiday cake features fresh cranberries, chopped pecans, and a delicious cream cheese frosting.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I’m not sure why, but I always feel like a cake is too “everyday” to serve as a Thanksgiving or Christmas dessert. But this Cranberry Christmas Cake has changed my opinion in a big way!
Not only is this cake beautiful enough to serve at a holiday dinner, it tastes like something fit for a special occasion.
The best part is, it starts with a white cake mix, so it’s pretty easy to put together.
And I don’t think anyone will notice the cake mix shortcut, thanks to the addition of pecans, fresh cranberries and orange zest.
The homemade cream cheese frosting is literally the icing on the cake.
If you don’t have three round cake pans, two will work just fine–you’ll just have to bake your cake a little bit longer, and you’ll probably have some extra frosting–but extra frosting is never a bad thing!
Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to cut your cake layers in half to make multiple layers. I suppose someone more professional out there would be very good at that, but for me, it’s the easiest way to turn an easy cake recipe into a disaster.
Whether you make it with two layers, or three (or even four), this cake will be beautiful, delicious, and get rave reviews.
The only trouble with people asking you for the recipe is that they’ll find out how easy it was to make!
I’ve already made this Cranberry Christmas Cake twice in the last month, and my family is still looking forward to having it again as our Christmas dessert.
Be sure to save this recipe to your favorite Pinterest board for later.
Ingredients
- White cake mix
- Milk
- Eggs
- Canola oil
- Sour cream
- Produce: oranges, fresh cranberries
- Pecans
- Cream cheese
- Butter
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Powdered sugar
Cranberry Christmas Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 box white cake mix
- 1 cup milk
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 cup fresh cranberries coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
For the frosting:
- 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Pinch of salt
- 4 to 4 1/2 cups confectioner’ s sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 9-inch round cake pans.
- In a large bowl combine the cake mix, milk, eggs, oil, sour cream and orange zest. Beat on medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.
- Carefully fold in cranberries and pecans.
- Dived batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before turning onto wire racks to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla and salt until smooth. Stir in the orange zest.
- Gradually add the confectioner ‘s sugar until frosting reaches desired consistency. Stir in the pecans.
- Frost between the cake layers as well as the top and sides. Garnish with fresh cranberries or additional chopped nuts, if desired.
Nutrition
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35 comments
Sharon
Cake was delicious but too moist and heavy. Layers sunk when stacked. I’ll make it again with a little less milk. I will also make a traditional cream cheese frosting with one stick of butter instead of two.
Sharon
Cake was delicious but too moist and heavy. Layers sunk when stacked. I’ll make it again with a little less milk. I will also make a traditional cream cheese frosting with one stick of butter instead of two.
Hilary
I made this cake for Christmas and it was amazing! I want to make a variation of it for a bday cake this summer but cranberries are not seasonal. What fruit could I substitute for the cranberries?
Danelle
Blueberries maybe? I wouldn’t chop them though. And I’d toss them with a bit of flour before adding them to the batter.
Hilary
I actually didn’t see your response and I did it with blueberries and tossed them in flour anyways! I also switched out the orange zest for lemon zest to compliment the blueberries better too