Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake
A favorite during the holidays, Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake is something to celebrate. The cake is light and moist, the topping is buttery-crunchy, and the cranberry filling is delicious. This coffee cake is so addicting, you’ll want it for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dessert. I would know.
“Life is short, eat dessert first,” comes to mind when you sample this tasty treat.
I’m not sure who decided coffee cake was ok to eat for breakfast (not that I’m complaining), but someone, please give them a prize.
Nobody blinks an eye if you start your day with Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake, Chocolate Chip Raspberry Coffee Cake, Pumpkin Pecan Coffee Cake, or today’s coffee cake.
But I’ll tell ya, there’s no way Mom would have let me have a piece of Tropical Carrot Cake or Classic German Chocolate Cake for breakfast.
No way, no how. Ha!
Making Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake
Let’s start with the pan
You’ll need a 10″ tube pan, which means different things to different people.
A tube pan is a round baking pan that has a hollow tube in its center, thus giving the cake a donut shape.
Many people call this a Bundt pan, or fluted pan (sculpted sides).
The opposite, which is what I used in this recipe, is a tube pan with straight sides typically used for Angel Food Cakes.
If you don’t have either of these, you can use a round cake pan, but with a ramekin placed in the center.
The ideal tube pan would be a light colored, non-stick, one-piece fluted pan. I would have used mine, but I’ve either lost it, or never had one to begin with.
Lastly, butter the bottom and sides of the pan.
The Topping
Begin by making the topping, which goes on the bottom.
Yes, you read that right. You bake this coffee cake upside down.
Mix the pecans, sugar, and cinnamon together and spoon evenly in the bottom of the buttered pan.
Next, make the cake batter.
Cake Batter
In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set that aside for now.
Next, in a small bowl, mix the sour cream with the almond extract. Set that aside, too.
Ok, now let’s get busy. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, scraping sides as necessary.
Now, add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream mixture.
Once the batter is fully combined, preheat the oven to 350°.
The cake batter will be thick, so you’ll have to spoon the batter into the pan.
More specifically, spoon 3/4 of the batter (approx. 3 cups) over the topping you added earlier.
Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
I have to say that although cranberry sauce has a strong tart flavor, the baking process tones it down.
The taste is there, and some of the tartness, but it’s more subtle after baking for an hour, which I love.
Open the can and stir it some. This makes it more spreadable.
Carefully, spoon the cranberry sauce in an even layer.
Last, but not least, spoon the remaining batter over cranberry sauce and spread evenly.
Bake for 45 – 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then run a knife around edges to loosen.
Invert onto a serving plate, and that’s it. Dive in!
Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake: Decorating Options
It’s always fun to make food look pretty.
This coffee cake tastes so good, it doesn’t need anything else, but a little drizzle is fun.
Mix 1/3 cup powdered sugar with a little milk, just enough to make it drizzle-able. Is that even a word?
Drizzle it off a spoon or fork, or pour it into a baggie and snip the tip.
Another option is to add Candied Cranberries on top.
The snowy sugar-coated cranberries add a festive flare, plus they’re scrumptious little things.
Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Topping:
- 3/4 cup pecans, chopped
- 4 tsp. granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Cake Batter:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 14 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce
Instructions
- Butter bottom and sides of 10" tube pan.
Topping:
- Mix together pecans, sugar, and cinnamon. Spoon evenly in bottom on pan.
Cake Batter:
- In medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In small bowl, mix together sour cream and almond extract. Set aside.
- In large bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Scrape sides as necessary.
- Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream mixture until well combined. Batter will be thick.
- Spoon 3/4 of batter evenly over topping in pan. Spread gently.
- Briefly stir cranberry sauce while in the can (to spread easier), then spread in even layer over batter.
- Spoon remaining batter over cranberry sauce; spread evenly. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then run knife around edges to loosen. Invert onto serving plate. Serve warm or room temperature. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
A quick mention of this wonderful blank recipe book that I helped to create with a very dear friend. Write in one or more recipes before giving it to that special person, then they can fill the remaining pages with their favorites, and/or have other special people write out recipes for them. It’s personal, and yes, it takes time and effort — something we’ve gotten away from with all this technology. Check it out HERE where you can order it in a hard or soft cover. Once there, click on READ SAMPLE to see the pages within. I especially like the “measurements and conversions” page. Also, I make no money from any sales, I just love the idea of this book. Missing my mom as I do, seeing her handwriting always makes me feel closer to her. Give that gift to someone else by writing out a favorite recipe.
Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake
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When I eat something with a lot of components I start to think about which is my part is my favorite. Literally everything about this cake was my favorite – the cake, the filling, and the topping. I’m gonna start with the filling. There was just the right amount of filling, not too much to overpower the cake and not too little so that you had to hunt for it. The filling had a slightly sweet flavor, not tart like cranberries and a beautiful color. If I had a blindfold on and didn’t know what I was eating I would have probably called it raspberry. On to the cake, which was slightly dense and sweet and super moist. The cake might have been my true favorite component. Next the topping, just the right amount of sweetness vs. crunch. The topping was perfect. When I say I love this cake I’m not kidding.
Wow, thank you for that. I thought the same thing about the filling tasting a bit like raspberry, which tells me raspberry jam would do just as good in place of the cranberry sauce.