Save yourself a lot of time and still enjoy the Holiday flavors - make a cake or bars instead of cookies!
Combine the sweetness of gingerbread with the tartness cranberries to bring two holiday favorites together - it's Gingerbread Cranberry Cake.
Gingerbread Cranberry Bundt Cake – for both lovers of cranberries. Add whipped cream, sweetened dried cranberries and pecan bits and you have a delicious holiday dessert!
This is a dense Gingerbread Cranberry Bundt Cake for the Holiday Season. It’s a sweet and spicy gingerbread cake served with that sometimes abhorred tart cranberry jelly that other people just love! Make the gingerbread cake without any cranberries or juice in the batter so both lovers and haters of cranberries can enjoy. Then add the cranberry when you serve the dessert. It’s easy!
Bundts are easy to slice since so many of them have perfectly spaced ridge lines all around the cake. It’s the sign of the Bundt, so why not take advantage of them. Slice the cake, spread a little and insert slices of the cranberry jelly. Top with whipped cream. It’s as easy as that!
This recipe fits a 10-12 cup Bundt pan, but will also accommodate two 6” Bundt pans. Either way it will serve 10-12.
Preheat your oven to 350F degrees
Prep our Bundt baking pan:
- Lightly brush soft butter all over the inside of the pan, making sure to cover all the crooks, crannies and ridge lines.
- Dust the entire inside of the pan with flour. Turn the pan over and tap out the excess flour into your garbage container.
Gather your Bundt cake Ingredients:
¾ C Butter, soft (12 Tablespoons or 1 ½ sticks)
1 ½ C Brown sugar, dark
2 Eggs
1 Egg yolk
½ C Molasses
2 ¾ C Flour
2 t Ginger, ground
2 t Cinnamon, ground
½ t Cloves, ground
½ t Allspice
½ t Nutmeg, ground
½ t Salt
¼ t Baking soda
1 t Baking powder
1 C Water
Cranberry accent:
1 Can Jelled Cranberry
2 C Whipped cream
¼ C Dried sweetened cranberries
¼ C Bits of pecans
Mix and bake the Bundt:
- With an electric beater, beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time and beat before adding the next one. Just beat in until combined.
- Add and beat in the molasses just until combined.
- Sift together the dry ingredients – flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Alternately, add the flour mix and water into the molasses mixture. Just beat until combined. Do not overbeat.
- Pour the batter into the prepared 10-12” Bundt pan or two 6” Bundt pans.
- Bake in 350F degrees preheated oven for 55-65 minutes for the 10-12” Bundt pan. Or, Bake at 350F degrees preheated oven for 40-45 minutes for the two 6” Bundt pans.
- Test them with the clean toothpick test for doneness. After you stick the toothpick in the middle of one side of the cake, and the toothpick comes out clean, it’s done. Don’t overbake.
- Let cool on top of the stove for 10 minutes.
- Loosen and turn over so the cake(s) come out. I use the slim curved end of my orange-colored orange peeler to loosen up the edges. It works very well in the crevices without tearing the cake.
Serve up and garnish your Gingerbread Bundt with Jelled Cranberry dessert:
- Slice the Gingerbread Bundt Cake, separating out the skinny ridges, leaving spaces between the wider ridges.
- Set the gingerbread skinny ridges aside.
- Set all the wider gingerbread ridges in a circle on a serving platter, leaving spaces between the ridges. Set aside.
- Open the can of jelled cranberry and let it slip out onto a wide bowl. There will probably be no liquid, just the jelled cranberry cylinder, standing up.
- While the cranberry cylinder is standing up, slice it down the very center leaving two separate half cylinders.
- Lay the cranberry cylinders on their flat sides on a flat plate.
- Slice it into ½” half circles.
- Position one half circle between each ridge of gingerbread on the serving platter.
- After all are in position, put your hands around the circle of gingerbread ridges and half slices of jelled cranberry and push together so they are sitting tight together.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Just before serving, set dollops of whipped cream around the outside of the dessert. Sprinkle the whipped cream with dried cranberries and pecan bits.
Storing your Gingerbread Bundt Cake:
- Store it for up to 3 days in a covered container on the counter, without the cranberry or whipped cream.
- Or, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days without the cranberry or whipped cream.
- To freeze it I slice it first, then wrap each slice in plastic wrap, without the cranberry or whipped cream. Or, place a piece of parchment paper between each slice and wrap 2-4 in plastic wrap. It depends on how many I will want to serve later. I freeze for up to a month or so. Never freeze the whipped cream or cranberry slices with the cake (The mess after you thaw will not be pleasant.).
- You can also freeze the entire Bundt cake (without the cranberry or whipped cream) by wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap. Then insert in a sealable plastic bag or other airtight container.
There are so many ways you can garnish your Gingerbread Bundt Cake for the holidays. Top it with your favorite flavors and “Bake your own Memories!”