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Cranberry Coffee Cake is a tender vanilla cake studded with tart, jewel red cranberries and buried under a buttery cinnamon brown sugar crumb, and when I baked one on a *snowy December morning* the first slice disappeared before the coffee finished brewing. If you love our lemon blueberry coffee cake, this is its cozy holiday season cousin.
It is the perfect make ahead breakfast for Christmas morning or any cold weather weekend.
Cranberry Coffee Cake Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 15 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 45 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 1 hour
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 365kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Sweet vanilla cake with tart cranberries and buttery cinnamon crumb
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, a classic creamed batter like our chocolate chip coffee cake
Quick Answer
Cream butter with granulated and brown sugar, add an egg and vanilla, then mix in the flour and milk in alternating additions. Fold in fresh cranberries, spread the batter in an 11×7 dish, and top with a brown sugar cinnamon crumb. Bake the Cranberry Coffee Cake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.
Jump to:
- Cranberry Coffee Cake Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Cranberry Coffee Cake
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Cranberry Coffee Cake FAQs
- Other Recommended Holiday Breakfast Recipes
- Cranberry Coffee Cake
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Alternating flour and milk. Adding the dry ingredients and milk in turns keeps the batter smooth and the crumb tender.
- Whole cranberries. They hold their shape while baking, then burst into little pockets of tart jam in the finished cake.
- A double sugar batter. Granulated sugar for sweetness plus brown sugar for warmth gives the cake a deeper flavor.
- A melted butter crumb. Stirring melted butter into the topping with a fork makes big, craggy crumbs that stay crunchy.
- A thick batter. The sturdy batter suspends the berries evenly so they do not sink to the bottom.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The tart cranberries against the sweet, buttery crumb topping is an unbeatable combo.
- It works with fresh or frozen berries, so you can bake it all winter long, just like our cranberry jam.
- It doubles as breakfast, brunch centerpiece, and dessert.
Key Ingredients
Here is a quick look at the simple ingredients that make this Cranberry Coffee Cake tender, buttery, and bursting with tart berries.
- Fresh or Frozen Cranberries: Tart little bursts that balance the sweet cake, no need to thaw frozen berries.
- Butter: Creamed into the batter for richness and melted into the crumb topping.
- Granulated and Brown Sugar: White sugar sweetens the cake while brown sugar gives the crumb its caramel flavor.
- Whole Milk: Added in turns with the flour for a tender, even crumb, the same method as our lemon blueberry coffee cake.
- Cinnamon: Warms up the crumb topping and makes the whole house smell amazing.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
This Cranberry Coffee Cake is easy to dress up. Here are a few favorite variations.
- Add orange: Stir a tablespoon of orange zest into the batter, cranberry and orange are made for each other.
- Add nuts: Fold half a cup of chopped pecans or walnuts into the crumb topping.
- Vanilla glaze: Drizzle the cooled cake with a quick powdered sugar and milk glaze.
- Berry swap: Use blueberries or chopped apples when cranberries are out of season.
- More cranberry bakes: If you love this, our cranberry orange braid is next.
How to Make Cranberry Coffee Cake
- Cream the softened butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar for 3 minutes until fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Add a third of the flour mixture and stir it in, then half the milk, repeating until both are fully incorporated.
- Fold in the cranberries until just combined.
- Spread the thick batter evenly into a sprayed 11×7 baking dish.
- Stir the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and melted butter into crumbs with a fork, sprinkle evenly over the batter, and bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- No need to thaw frozen berries. Fold them in straight from the freezer so they do not bleed into the batter.
- Cream the butter well. Three full minutes builds the light, fluffy base the cake needs.
- Do not overmix after the flour. Stir until just combined so the cake stays tender.
- Make real crumbs. Stir the topping with a fork until no dry patches remain and it clumps together.
- Check with a toothpick. The crumb topping browns early, so trust the toothpick, not the color.
- Let it cool a bit. Twenty minutes of cooling sets the crumb so slices come out clean.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
This Cranberry Coffee Cake was made for slow winter mornings, a warm slice with hot coffee is holiday season perfection. It is gorgeous on a Christmas brunch table.
Serve it alongside our pumpkin cinnamon rolls for a brunch spread nobody forgets.
Love baking through the holidays? Pair it with our cranberry cheesecake bars and a jar of fresh cranberry jam for the full cranberry lineup.
Store the cooled cake covered at room temperature for two days or in the refrigerator for up to five, and rewarm slices for 15 seconds in the microwave.
Cranberry Coffee Cake FAQs
Yes. Fold frozen cranberries into the Cranberry Coffee Cake batter straight from the freezer, no thawing needed. Thawed berries release juice and can streak the batter pink.
Yes. Bake the Cranberry Coffee Cake the night before, cool it completely, and cover it at room temperature. Rewarm slices in the microwave for about 15 seconds before serving.
The batter was likely overmixed and thinned out. This Cranberry Coffee Cake batter is intentionally thick so the berries stay suspended, so fold them in gently at the very end.
An 11×7 baking dish is perfect for this Cranberry Coffee Cake. A 9×9 square pan also works, add about 5 extra minutes to the bake time and check with a toothpick.
Store cooled Cranberry Coffee Cake covered at room temperature for up to two days or refrigerated for up to five days. The crumb topping stays crisp best at room temperature.
Yes. Wrap cooled squares of Cranberry Coffee Cake tightly and freeze for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm before serving.
Want more cozy weekend bakes? Our pumpkin monkey bread is pure pull apart joy.
Cranberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 cups frozen or fresh cranberries
- For the topping:
- 6 tablespoons light brown sugar packed
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 11×7 baking dish with cooking spray, and set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
- Cream the butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar for 3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla, and mix to combine.
- Add ½ of the flour mixture and stir it in.
- Add half of the milk and stir it in. Repeat with the remaining flour and milk.
- Add the cranberries and mix until just combined.
- Spread into the prepared baking dish.
- In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt.
- Pour in the melted butter and stir with a fork to produce crumbs, mix until there are no dry patches left.
- Sprinkle evenly on top of the batter.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool before serving, can be enjoyed warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- We use an 11×7-inch baking pan for this, you can use a 9×9-inch one but it will be thicker. Do not use a 9×13-inch.
- Fresh or frozen cranberries can be used.
- Other spices can be added, see above on ideas.
- This can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
- You can double this as a breakfast or dessert.
- If you want to add toppings, they are absolutely amazing. See some of my ideas above.
- This is a great base recipe to add any fruits that you’d like.
Nutrition
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