This is the seventh Holiday Season I have been baking this extraordinary tasting Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake for my family and friends.
It contains fresh cranberries and almonds, but the real difference compared to your ordinary holiday cake is the spice combination. Along with cinnamon and ginger it features Chinese five-spice powder. Chinese five-spice powder is a spice blend containing ground fennel seeds, Szechuan peppercorns, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves. I purchase it at my local Whole Foods.
The cake stays very moist, since its liquid component is Greek yogurt. The glaze is old fashioned and simple with orange juice and powdered sugar.
Don’t miss out on this crowd pleasing holiday dessert. It is an absolute winner!
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from my kitchen to yours!
Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake | Print |
- cake:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup (2½ ounces) almond flour or almond meal
- 2½ teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup plain reduced-fat (2%) Greek style yogurt, room temperature
- 1 cup chopped toasted almonds
- 1 cup halved fresh cranberries (or frozen, don't thaw)
- ½ cup dried sweetened cranberries (I omitted them)
- icing:
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- 4 teaspoons (about) orange juice
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. I used two smaller ones and divided the batter in half.
- Whisk first 8 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Set aside.
- Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth.
- Add both sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition.
- Beat in vanilla extract, then Greek-style yogurt.
- Add dry ingredients; beat just until blended.
- Fold in almonds and all cranberries (I omitted the dried Cranberries).
- Transfer batter to prepared Bundt pan or the two smaller ones.
- Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Mine only took 45 minutes on Convection and the smaller Bundts took exactly 32 minutes. Cool cake or cakes in pan 10 minutes.
- Turn cake out onto rack and cool completely.
- Icing:
- Stir powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons orange juice in small bowl until sugar dissolves. Mix in more juice by ½ teaspoonfuls to reach consistency of heavy cream. Spoon icing over cake, allowing it to drip down sides. Let stand until icing sets, at least 30 minutes. Cover with cake dome and store at room temperature.
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s “Three part Baking Series” from my copy of the Bon Appétit magazine, Nov. 2008.

{ 24 comments }
Did they ever nominate Mr. (or Mrs?) Bundt for a Nobel prize? Surely one of the greatest inventions ever. Cheers!
Oh. YUM. I have about half a bag of cranberries in my freezer waiting for inspiration to hit – it HIT! Thanks. I love the flavor of five-spice, will make it soon.
That cake looks amazing. . .
This sounds like a perfect cake to serve at Christmas!
it looks realy tasty!
A wonderful cake that is beckoning for Xmas!
That picture talks to me, it looks so incredibly moist! Love it
This Is What Heaven Must Look Like! The white icing looks like angels wings running down the walls of heaven. Please send a slice of it to your friends today… we all need salvation. 🙂
What a beautiful holiday cake. I bet it's delicious.
So interesting. Using five-spice would really spice things up a bit, so different but I love the sound of it.
wow this cake is so gorgeous:) i love this post. thanks for sharing this.
@Barbara: I am sorry about the mistake. I fixed it. It is 1 cup fresh and 1/2 dried cranberries.
Sounds absolutely wonderful and I love the use of 5 spice; can't wait to make it.
Would you confirm the quantity for the cranberries though? Is it 1 cup?
Wish I had some now…maybe for our next get together Kirsten!
I love all the secret ingredients! It looks so moist and sounds like it has a "earthy" quality. Saving…
Wow. This looks really, REALLY good!
wow… I think the Chinese 5 spice is inspired… bet it tastes amazing… thanks for the recipe x
Chinese 5 spice powder is a bit of a surprise ingredient but I can imagine it would work very well. I love cakes and bakes that have little surprises like this to them and this one looks like a beauty ;0)
wenn ich die cranberries nicht alle schon vorher essen würde…..
Love this recipe of your bundt cake with the fresh cranberries, and the dried, also the spices too. I also like to add yogurt to the mix.
Your drizzle is so perfect.
The orange coconut snowball looks so yummy,too.
So glad that you have the print option too, so I can easily print it out, which I will be doing.
Thanks for sharing!
Looks so moist and yummy! The use of 5 spice powder is wonderful! A slice of this would be great with a cup of tea.
that looks sooo tasty!
I have 5 spice powder and fresh cranberries. Sounds and looks delicious.
I love the 5 spice powder in this…sounds great!
Ooh that looks delicious! What an intriguing addition of the five spice – I'd love to see how that works.
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