Ingredients:

  • 3 cups All-Purpose Flour (spooned and leveled)
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened (room temperature)
  • 2 cups Granulated Sugar
  • 4 Large Eggs (room temperature)
  • 2 tablespoons Orange Zest (from unwaxed oranges)
  • 1 ½ cups Fresh Cranberries, roughly chopped
  • ½ cup Sour Cream or Full-Fat Plain Yogurt (room temperature)
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1 ½ cups Powdered Sugar (sifted)
  • 2-3 tablespoons Fresh Orange Juice
  • ¼ teaspoon Cinnamon

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Generously grease and flour your 10-cup Bundt Pan or 9x5 inch Loaf Tin. Toss the chopped cranberries with 2 tablespoons of the dry flour mixture to prevent sinking.
  2. Whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until the mixture is light, fluffy, and pale yellow (about 4–5 minutes).
  4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, ensuring each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Mix in the orange zest and vanilla extract.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in three alternating additions with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (Dry, Sour Cream, Dry, Sour Cream, Dry). Mix just until combined; do not overmix.
  6. Gently fold in the flour-coated cranberries using a rubber spatula until evenly distributed. This batter forms the base for your Christmas Cranberry Pound Cake.
  7. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 70–85 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the deepest part comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.
  8. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then, invert onto the rack and cool completely (about 1.5 hours) before applying the glaze.
  9. To make the glaze, whisk together the sifted powdered sugar, cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons of orange juice until smooth and slightly thick. Add the third tablespoon of juice only if necessary to achieve the right drizzling consistency. Drizzle generously over the completely cooled cake.