A generous slice of Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake is the perfect wintry treat with a steaming cup o’ tea. Scratch-made, buttery almond pound cake is studded with sugared cranberries for a sweet cake that’s beautifully festive and irresistible on the dessert table.
While my last name isn’t Murphy, I’m well acquainted with Murphy’s Law. More than I’d like to be unfortunately. Several years ago on a Saturday morning I hosted a Christmas Coffee here at the house for girlfriends and neighbors. (If you’re needing a simple way to connect with friends over the holidays and don’t have time to make a five course meal, a coffee works! Host a drop-in for a few hours.)
I served fresh fruit, biscotti and coffee. Then added a few extras to the menu: sugared pecans and sugared cranberries. It was a great spread!
Murphy’s Law didn’t come into play with the menu that morning, thankfully. It was something else.
Half-way through the coffee, a concerned guest pulled me aside. She wondered if the dripping wax from the lantern on the coffee table was part of the winter snow scene… GULP.
Just before jumping in the shower that morning, all in a rush, I’d lit the brand new pillar candles inside my wooden Pottery Barn lantern. In my hurry, I’d forgotten to trim the wicks. Mistake #1.
(If a stitch in time saves nine, a trimmed wick could save a hundred I’m thinkin’.)
The candles with the big flames and long wicks had melted down quickly, and there was two inches of melted wax inside and up the sides of the lantern. The bottom layers had started to harden, sealing the lantern door shut (as in wax seal!) and we couldn’t get to the candles to blow them out.
There we were, tea party MacGyvers all of us, armed with butter knives, wax paper and toothpicks. Desperately trying to pry open a molten wax-filled lantern.
Then a clever soul quietly whispered, “How many smart women does it take to blow out three candles”??? Ha ha. SO FUNNY. Maybe you had to be there.
Finally we pried the door open with minimal spillage and no burnt fingers. Success! And just one sturdy puff later, the candles were extinguished. Phew. A word to the wise…trim your candle wicks this holiday season. (The voice of experience….)
So that was my big mishap of the week. And this delicious Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake was my big success. I took my favorite pound cake recipe, swapped in almond extract for vanilla and added the sugared cranberries.
Steep fresh cranberries in a hot simple syrup for several hours, then roll in sugar.
One of the boys asked me why pound cake is called pound cake, and it’s because traditionally pound cake was made with a pound each of butter, flour, eggs and sugar.
How to Make Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake:
This cake is easy to make. Cream the butter and sugar together, then incorporate the eggs in one at a time.
Stir in the dry ingredients and gently fold in the sugared cranberries. Sprinkle with coarse, sparkling white sugar just before baking if desired. (I did.)
Scratch-made pound cakes are surprisingly easy to make and I don’t know a soul who wouldn’t love a thick slice of this one. The sweet tart cranberries are a nice contrast with the velvety smooth cake. This Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake is a pretty, festive cake and sure to be a favorite on your holiday dessert table.
Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake
Ingredients
Sugared Cranberries
- 2 cups cranberries
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
Pound Cake
- 2 cups sugared cranberries recipe above
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 2 cups white sugar
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
- Optional: 2 tablespoons of coarse sparkling white sugar
Instructions
Sugared Cranberries
- In small saucepan, stir together 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups water.
- Heat over medium heat until mixture is just simmering.
- Remove from heat.
- Drop in a test cranberry. If it pops, mixture is too hot.
- If not, add in the rest of the cranberries and marinate in the simple syrup for several hours.
- Drain and set aside simple syrup for another use.
Pound Cake
- Grease and flour a 10" tube pan. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 325°.
- Toss drained, marinated cranberries in 1/4 cup of the flour. Set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, stir remaining 2 3/4 cups flour with salt and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
- Add in eggs one at at time, beating well after each addition.
- Add in almond extract and beat until fluffy.
- Fold dry ingredients into batter until well- blended.
- Gently stir in floured cranberries.
- Spoon batter into prepared pan.
- Optional: sprinkle with coarse, sparkling white sugar
- Bake for 60-75 minutes at 325° until cake is golden and cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool for 30 minutes, then loosen all edges of cake from tube pan with a sharp knife before turning out onto a cake platter.
Notes
You may also like: Famous Brick Street Chocolate Cake
Aunt Pinkie says
Looks so.Pretty and delicious! Great idea! Thankful you were able to blow out your candles!
Denise Q. says
MacGyver’s all of us! Too Funny! Great story and great recipe! I might have to make this for Christmas morning!
Liz says
I’d be tempted to eat this for breakfast!! A girlfriend was at a cookie exchange this week and the votives on the dining room table lit the centerpiece on fire!! It was a huge mess and they were lucky the house didn’t burn down. So glad you didn’t have to experience that!!! I’m going to remember to trim my wicks and make sure the candles are well away from anything flammable 🙂
allie says
Oh wow – candles can be so dangerous Liz. My aunt had some wall sconces that caught her sofa on fire. It happened at a big New Year’s party they were hosting. Thankfully no one was hurt but it ended up being a big mess.
Tina Sneed says
Those brown plastic Pampered Chef scrapers are the trick for scraping up the wax.
Allie says
And I don’t have one – and I still need to clean that lantern. Thanks for the tip Tina.
Ashley @ Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen says
I absolutely LOVE the pops of red running through this cake. Gorgeous, and perfect for the holidays!
Catherine says
Dear Allie, almonds and cranberries baked into a buttery pound cake? I don’t think I could think of anything more perfect! This would be perfect for Christmas morning while opening presents…such a comforting treat.
This is one reason why I use battery operated candles! Not quite the same but much easier to handle…whenever I light candles I’m usually left with a waxy mess. So glad you were able to get to the candles in time!
Wishing you and your beautiful family a blessed and joyful Christmas holiday. xoxo, Catherine
cynthia | What A Girl Eats says
What a beautiful cake! Perfect for the holidays!
Shashi at RunninSrilankan says
Haha – Oh my – Allie, I am just so glad that your brush with Murphy’s Law had a good outcome! I am well acquainted with Murphy myself! Am glad that y’all were able to pry open that lantern – so, how many smart ladies did it take to blow out those candles 😉
Now – on to the marvelousness that is this pound cake! I’ve gotta say, just looking at this majestic poundcake sets my salivary glands into action – it’s a good thing I am armed with a hot cup of cocoa or I would have to climb through my screen! Allie, it’s a good thing I wasn’t one of your coffee guests (coffee > lunch/dinner anyday) because, I’d be letting you hold onto a generous slice of this marvelous Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake, while I dug into the rest! So rude – but can you blame me? GAH – this is gonna be in ma dreams tonight! I hope you have a wonderful weekend – if you are busy next weekend, I just wanna say I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and joyous time together! Sending you a big virtual hug, my friend! xo
Carina says
Hi Allie, that cake looks just perfect for the holidays! Actually, looks pretty fantastic for any other time of year , too! 😉 Wow, what a relief that you guys were able to blow out the candles and get back to enjoying the delicious dessert without much consequence. Good reminder to be careful around candles! I can’t believe Christmas is practically a week away! Love the holiday season. Enjoy the weekend! Xoxo
puja says
I really loved the idea of meeting the friends over the coffee than preparing a heavy meal. Which I know takes a lot of time. BTW lovely cake recipe Allie. Thanks for sharing.. 🙂
Eva says
Oh la la! Je crois que je pourrais avaler tout de suite un morceau de ce délicieux gâteau! Il pareil tellement moelleux. J’espère que les préparatifs de Noël se passent à merveille. Par ici, tout les enfant sont très excités, ils attendent Noël avec impatiente! Joyeuses fêtes mas chère Allie! xoxo
Buffy says
Looks yummy!!!
Anu - My Ginger Garlic Kitchen says
Your cakes are always awesome and this one is no exception, Allie. This cake is pretty and delicious for any time of the year. And thank you so much for this nice reminder about being careful around candles! Hope you are having a lovely time. Wish you an awesome Holiday my dear. 🙂
http://proof-reading.services says
Those dishes should be really delicious! I would like to cook some of them this year.
Susie Mandel says
I’m embarrassed to say that I saved this recipe but haven’t made it yet! (insert red face here) I feel like I’ve had it before, but maybe I did when you made it, Allie, LOL. Ugh, my brain is absolute mush by now. Anyway, it’s high time I made it myself. 🙂
Sheila says
Can you use dried cranberries in this recipe?
Allie says
Hi Sheila – I have not made this with dried cranberries but I don’t see why they wouldn’t work well. They will just be more the consistency of raisins in the cake than a fresh cranberry. But I think it will be delicious and a great alternative to fresh. If you try it, I would love to hear how it comes out! Thank you so much for dropping by and happy baking!!!
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop says
This pound cake looks so lovely – especially all those cranberries! This is perfect to serve for a group of friends or family. Glad you were able to save the lantern! 🙂
Adina says
I am thinking hard now, if I have ever used fresh cranberries in baking… I definitely used dried ones. However, I would love to try this cake, the crumbs looks so moist and I think the tart taste of the cranberries is great in the sweet cake.
Anne says
Can I make this in loaf pans?
Allie says
My huge apologies for how long it took to respond to this comment Anne, I’m guessing you were baking these for Christmas. I had a major surgery in December and just getting back on my feet now. I’m sure you could make this cake in loaf pans and it would be delicious, though I haven’t done it yet so I wouldn’t know how long to tell you to bake it for. Hopefully if you made it, you just watched it closely. I’m guessing it would take significantly less time in loaf pans. Happy New Year and happy baking!
Susan Kline says
The cake was tasty, but if I make it again I will add milk. After mixing, it looked more like dough than batter. I should have looked at other pound cake recipes before baking. It was extremely dense. Sorry if this sounds too negative.
Sherry says
I did roll the berries in sugar, and saved some to decorate the cake. I drizzled it with a simple glaze of powdered sugar, milk and almond extract, tinted pink, and crowned it with a circle of sugared berries. It was moist, dense as a pound cake should be, and delicious. Everyone loved it.
Allie says
Sounds beautiful Sherry, so glad you all enjoyed!