Easy Cranberry Orange Pound Cake (From a Mix)
No one will ever guess this moist and tender pound cake was made with a cake mix! It has the perfect pound cake texture, with fresh orange and cranberries for plenty of festive holiday flavor.
If you need an easy but impressive dessert for Thanksgiving or Christmas, this cranberry orange pound cake is the way to go! It’s super simple but oh-so-delicious, and makes a great addition to your holiday dessert table.
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As soon as cranberries become readily available in the grocery stores this time of year, I start making all of my favorite cranberry recipes.
I’ve also been known to keep a few bags of berries in my freezer for off-season cravings!
I use them in all sorts of things, from dips to muffins to cookies, breads, and more.
Over the years, readers have loved making my cream cheese cranberry bread recipe during the holidays, so I decided to make a variation, but in bundt cake form.
Not only that, but I wanted it to be a shortcut recipe using a doctored-up box of cake mix, because we can all use a simple way to save time during the holidays. I used my cake mix cream cheese pound cake recipe as a starting point, with a few tweaks for a seasonal flair.
The resulting cake mix cranberry orange pound cake has the moist, slightly dense texture of a classic pound cake, with hints of orange throughout and plenty of juicy cranberries.
It’s topped with a simple orange glaze for the perfect finishing touch, and it makes a great addition to your Thanksgiving or Christmas gatherings.
More Cranberry Recipes You’ll Love:
- Nantucket Cranberry Pie
- Cranberry Boursin Dip
- No-Bake Cranberry Pie
- Cake Mix Cranberry Orange Cookies
- Cake Mix Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Easy Cranberry Apple Crisp
- Cranberry Pumpkin Bread
- Cranberry Pistachio Bread
How to Make Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake Using Cake Mix
I love all sorts of pound cake recipes, but a box of cake mix makes it especially easy to prepare this beautiful and delicious holiday treat.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Sugar
- Orange zest
- Unsalted butter
- Cream cheese
- Eggs
- Almond extract
- Orange extract
- French vanilla cake mix
- All-purpose flour
- Whole cranberries
- Powdered sugar
- Orange juice
How to Make It:
Find the full printable recipe available below
Combine orange zest and sugar. First, you’ll add some grated orange zest to some sugar. Using your fingers, rub the zest into the sugar.
The warmth from your fingers and the friction helps to release the oils from the zest into the sugar, creating a deliciously scented sugar.
This is a great way to ensure the flavor is distributed evenly throughout the cake.
Add butter and cream cheese. Then, you’ll use an electric mixer to beat in some softened butter and cream cheese.
This helps to provide moisture and richness in the cake, very much like a cream cheese pound cake.
Add eggs, extracts, and dry ingredients. With the mixer on medium speed, add in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. You’ll add in the almond extract and orange extract next.
Then, with the mixer on its lowest speed, mix in the cake mix and flour.
The reason we’re adding some flour here is to help give the cake that tighter, slightly dense crumb that’s associated with a pound cake.
Essentially, we want it to be less fluffy than a typical cake made with cake mix. This also means your batter will be pretty thick at this point.
Add the cranberries. Then, you’ll fold in your cranberries. You can use fresh cranberries or frozen cranberries, as long as they’re whole berries.
It may take a little elbow grease to get them folded in, since the batter is thick, but adding them by hand helps ensure they don’t get broken up before baking.
Bake. Then, you’ll spread the batter into a bundt pan that you’ve greased and floured or sprayed with baking spray.
Pop it in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Add the icing. Once the cake is completely cooled, you’ll whisk up a simple glaze made with powdered sugar and freshly squeezed orange juice.
Spoon the icing over the cake, then sprinkle some grated orange zest over the top if you want a little pop of color.
Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes so the icing can dry and set to a satiny finish, then you can slice and serve!
Notes and Adaptations:
- You can use fresh or frozen cranberries. If using frozen, do not thaw them first.
- One large orange is typically sufficient for the zest and juice that you’ll need.
- The glaze is optional; you can simply dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar if preferred.
- If you just want a cranberry pound cake (without the orange flavor), you can omit the orange zest and use vanilla extract instead of orange extract. Then use milk in the glaze instead of orange juice.
- Cake can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 2-3 days.
Recommended Equipment:
Cranberry Orange Pound Cake from a Mix
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange zest (freshly grated)
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
- 8 ounces cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
- 4 eggs (at room temperature)
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon orange extract
- 13.25 ounce French vanilla cake mix
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole cranberries (fresh or frozen)
For the Glaze:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest (optional, for sprinkling over the glaze)
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325F and spray a 12-cup bundt pan well with baking spray, such as Baker's Joy (alternatively, you can grease and flour the pan). Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl if using a handheld electric mixer), combine sugar and orange zest. Using your fingers, rub the zest into the sugar until the mixture is fragrant and pale yellow.
- Add butter and cream cheese to the bowl. With the mixer on medium-high speed, beat together until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
- Add the almond and orange extracts and mix to incorporate.
- Add cake mix and flour to the mixing bowl, then mix on low speed just until incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed. The batter will be thick.
- Add the cranberries and fold them into the batter gently.
- Spread the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake in preheated oven for about 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove cake from oven and let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then run a knife along the edge of the cake to ensure it's loosened from the pan. Invert the pan onto a serving plate and allow the cake to cool completely.
For the Glaze:
- Once the cake is cooled, prepared the glaze by whisking together powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of orange juice. If the mixture is too thick, add a little more juice. You want it to be thin enough to spoon over the cake, but thick enough that it doesn't all drip off the cake.
- If desired, sprinkle additional orange zest over the icing, then let the icing set for about 15 minutes. Then slice and enjoy!
Notes
- You can use fresh or frozen cranberries. If using frozen, do not thaw them first.
- The glaze is optional; you can simply dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar if preferred.
- If you just want a cranberry pound cake (without the orange flavor), you can omit the orange zest and use vanilla extract instead of orange extract. Then use milk in the glaze instead of orange juice.
- Cake can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 2-3 days.
Nutrition
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More Holiday Recipes to Try:
- 20 Time-Saving Cake Mix Recipes for Christmas – From eggnog cake to gingerbread cookies to cranberry bread and more, there are so many ways cake mixes can save you time in the kitchen this holiday season.
- 15 Easy No-Bake Pies for Christmas – If you need to free up oven space or simply prefer to make things in advance, these no-bake recipes are perfect.
- 20 No-Bake Thanksgiving Sides – We all know the oven is prime real estate when you’re trying to roast a turkey, so these side dishes can all be made without the use of the oven (including many traditional favorites!).
Don’t forget to save this recipe to your holiday desserts board on Pinterest!
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