Cranberry Orange Coffee Cake

It's beginning to taste a lot like Christmas . . .

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Coffee cake might be a year-round thing, but this cranberry orange coffee cake is bringing it home for the holidays. Flecked with orange zest, bursting with fresh cranberries, and loaded with buttery crumble, this snackable breakfast cake is equally wonderful as a lazy weekend breakfast, late-afternoon treat, or before-bed snack.

While it’s faster to make crumble with melted butter, I find that softened butter is essential for achieving a texture that’s light, airy, and crisp on the outside, but still soft in the middle. This might not be the ideal crumble texture in all cases (fruit crisp, for example), but it pairs better with this soft cake. A brief chill in the refrigerator (or even the freezer!) while you’re making the cake batter helps the crumble hold its shape better in the oven.

You can use fresh or frozen cranberries in this cake. If you’re using frozen, I highly recommend leaving them in the freezer until you’re ready to add them to the batter; if they start to thaw, their juices may leach into the batter, giving it a weird streaky look. You may notice the batter become stiffer from the frozen cranberries, but don’t worry; it will bake up just fine.

This cake is best the day it’s baked, but you can store it in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The crumble will lose its crispness overtime as it melds with the moisture of the cake, but the flavor will be just as wonderful—maybe even better.

Enjoy!

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Cranberry Orange Coffee Cake

(Serves 9)

Prep time: 5 minutes

Mix and bake time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

Crumble

⅔ cup (80 g.) all-purpose flour

⅓ cup (66 g.) granulated sugar

2 tsp. fresh orange zest

¼ tsp. kosher salt (I used Diamond Crystal)

5 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

Cake

1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar

½ stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

2 tbsp. fresh orange zest

¼ teaspoon kosher salt (I used Diamond Crystal)

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 ½ cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour, divided

½ cup (125 grams) plain Greek yogurt, preferably full fat or 5%

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

1 ¼ cup (125 g.) fresh or frozen cranberries, divided

Equipment: small baking sheet, 8”x 8” metal baking pan, parchment paper, medium bowl, large bowl, whisk, hand-held mixer, flexible rubber spatula

Instructions

Crumble

1. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, orange zest, and salt. Add cubed butter. Using clean hands, rub butter into flour mixture until completely incorporated and large curds of crumble hold together when squeezed.

3. Transfer crumble to lined baking sheet, ensuring there’s a mixture of larger and smaller clumps. Refrigerate while making the cake batter.

Cake

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F, rack in the middle position. Grease a metal 8” square baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment, allowing excess to hang over the edges on two opposite sides.

2. In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer, beat together sugar, butter, orange zest, and salt until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating between each addition until fully incorporated. Add baking powder and vanilla, and beat at least 45 seconds more.

3. Add half of the flour. Switch to a flexible rubber spatula and fold in just until combined. Fold in yogurt and orange juice until smooth, then add remaining flour and fold in just until until no streaks remain. Fold in 1 cup cranberries.

4. Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth to an even layer. Press remaining cranberries into the top. Remove crumble from the refrigerator and sprinkle evenly over top.

5. Bake cake until risen, springy to the touch, and golden brown where you can see below the crumble (a cake tester inserted in the center should come out clean), 40-50 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan before slicing and serving.