The best holiday loaf cake? Step right up to this easy cranberry orange nut bread recipe: a sweet, super-moist orange cranberry cake that bakes up in a loaf pan and looks as good as it tastes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 orange, zested and juiced
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups fresh cranberries, picked over
- 1 1/2 cups walnut pieces
- 3/4 cup golden raisins, soaked in warm water
- For the Glaze
- 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice (from above orange)
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a standard size loaf pan.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, and orange zest on medium until lightened and emulsified, about two minutes. Add the buttermilk and mix.
- Add the flour, salt, and baking powder and mix just until combined. Stir in the cranberries, raisins, and nuts.
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes or so, until the top springs back and a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool fully.
- Glaze the Cake
- Make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar and juice from 1/2 of the orange until smooth. Half an orange should equal about 1/4 cup of juice. It will be fine if it’s a little scant.
- Place a sheet pan underneath the cooling rack to catch the excess glaze. Pour the glaze over the cake, letting it run down the sides. Let harden and serve.
