If you’re looking for an easy way to get into the fall spirit, this recipe is your answer. With only about 15 minutes of prep work and basic ingredients, you’re going to feel ready for cool air and crispy leaves in no time. Here’s the recipe for my cranberry orange loaf (and bonus cranberry icing).
Baking Tools I Used for this Recipe
How to Make Cranberry Orange Loaf
If you have a mixer, oven and loaf pan you’re pretty much there after a quick trip to the grocery store. The one thing I didn’t already have was this adorable loaf pan that I got on sale. It’s so cute and matches all of the other simple, white and feminine serving ware in my kitchen. And I got it just in time for the holidays!
Easy step-by-step instructions below. Email this post to yourself and/or print it out to make your own delicious Cranberry Orange Loaf for later!
Cranberry Orange Loaf
Equipment
- 1 9×5 Loaf Pan
- 1 Juicer (optional)
- 1 Mixer (optional)
- 1 Wire Baking Rack
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
- 1 ½ cups fresh cranberries fresh or frozen, I used Cape Cod Select
- ¼ cup butter softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup orange juice freshly squeezed or store bought
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease your loaf pan.
- Whisk dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt – together in a mixing bowl. Once combined, stir in orange zest and cranberries. Set aside.
- Beat wet ingredients – butter, sugar, and egg – in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in orange juice. Beat in flour mixture until just moistened.
- Pour full mixture into loaf pan. Top with extra cranberries as desired.
- Bake until a toothpick comes out of center clean, about 1 hour. Let stand 10 minutes, then move out of pan onto a wire rack to cool.
- Once completely cool, add icing, serve or wrap in plastic wrap to store.
Cranberry Icing Recipe
The icing is super simple. It doesn’t take very long to make, so I recommend waiting until your loaf is completely cool before starting the icing so it’s not sitting out long. For this, you’ll need:
- 1/4 cup cranberries
- 1 tablespoon milk
- Powdered sugar (1-2 cups, amount will vary based on need)
How to Make Cranberry Icing
- Juice the cranberries either with a juicer (I love mine), or a blender and strain the juice out through a cheesecloth.
- Stir the milk into your cranberry juice.
- Add the powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency. For reference, I used 20 tablespoons to reach a thicker icing that would slowly drip down the sides of my loaf.
- Drizzle slowly over your cranberry orange loaf and garnish with cranberries or orange slices as desired.
This is how my icing turned out, and how the drizzle looked. It wasn’t just delicious, but gorgeous too!
Please let me know if you give my Cranberry Orange Loaf and/or Cranberry Icing recipe a try! Feel free to leave any feedback or questions in the comments below, or visit my recipes section for more ideas!
