Vegan orange cranberry cake - this delicious loaf cake consists of a vegan orange pound cake studded with tangy fresh cranberries. It is moist, flavourful and perfect for snacking. Eggless and dairy free.
This vegan orange cranberry cake, aka orange cranberry bread as it is often called in America, is an incredibly flavourful, moist, soft, delicious cake.
It is a pound cake style cake, so has a moist, dense crumb, and has a fragrant orange flavour with bursts of tangy fresh cranberry.
This is a wonderful cake to have around for snacking on over the festive season, and would even be good as part of an indulgent breakfast or brunch.
It is made using the reverse creaming method, which helps to give the cake a lovely texture.
It may sound complicated, but the reverse creaming method is very simple; it just means that you mix the flour with the fat first and then add the wet ingredients.
Coating the flour with fat helps to stop the gluten from developing when it is mixed, making for a more soft and tender cake crumb.
This recipe is adapted from my vegan marble cake recipe, which in turn was adapted from my vegan lemon pound cake recipe and this marble cake recipe by the very talented Izy Hossack of Top With Cinnamon, who’s idea it was to use the reverse creaming method.
What Do I Need To Make Vegan Orange Cranberry Cake:
Silken tofu: silken tofu makes an amazing egg replacer in things like pound cake, lending a beautifully moist, tender crumb. It really is the best thing to use and I haven't tested any substitutes I'm afraid.
Orange juice and zest: finely grated orange zest adds loads of flavour to this cake, which is also boosted by using orange juice as the liquid. You can either use freshly squeezed juice (from your zested oranges), or orange juice from a carton. Because orange juice is acidic it also helps the cake to rise by reacting with the raising agents.
Vanilla extract: vanilla extract gives the cake extra flavour. Be sure to use extract rather than essence for the best flavour.
Cornflour (cornstarch): A bit of cornflour helps to give the cake a nice soft texture. If you don’t have any you can just swap it for more plain flour but I do recommend using it if possible. And if you happen to have any cake flour then you can omit the cornflour and plain flour and use all cake flour instead.
Plain flour: I use a blend of plain flour and the above cornflour for a good texture. If you have cake flour then you can just use that in place of both flours.
Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda): Obviously necessary if you want your cake to rise!
Vegan block butter: For the best textured cake it is important to use a vegan block butter/margarine to make this cake – the kind that comes in a foil wrapped block, NOT the spreadable kind in a tub which has too high a water content for baking.
I use Naturli Vegan Block but Flora, Stork, Vitalite or Tormor blocks are also fine (not the tub versions). Spreadable will work in a pinch but I really do recommend block if possible.
Neutral oil: adding a bit of oil as well as the butter makes for a moist, soft cake. I use sunflower but vegetable, canola or mild olive oil would all be fine.
Caster sugar: I like to use golden caster sugar for a bit of extra flavour but white is good too. If you only have granulated sugar then you can give it a quick blitz in a blender to make your own caster sugar.
Cranberries: I use fresh cranberries. Frozen will also work but don't defrost them first, use them straight from the freezer. The cake may take a couple of minutes longer to bake. You could also use dried cranberries instead.
How To Make Vegan Orange Cranberry Cake:
(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)
Place the silken tofu, orange juice and vanilla extract in a blender and blitz until smooth. (I just put it all in a large jug and use a stick blender).
Place the plain flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar in a large bowl and sift to combine.
Add the melted butter, oil and orange zest to the dry ingredients and stir until no dry patches remain. Adding the fat to the flour before adding the wet ingredients helps to make the cake more soft and tender.
Gradually whisk the wet ingredients into the dry to form a smooth batter.
Mix the fresh cranberries with ½ Tbsp of flour until they are well coated then fold them into the batter.
Pour the batter into a greased and lined loaf tin and bake for about 75 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. You can loosely cover the top of the cake with tin foil towards the end of baking if it starts to get too dark.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 20 minutes then carefully turn it out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely before slicing.
Top Tips:
For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
For the best textured cake it is important to use a vegan block butter/margarine to make this cake – the kind that comes in a foil wrapped block, NOT the spreadable kind in a tub which has too high a water content for baking. I use Naturli Vegan Block but Stork, Vitalite or Tormor blocks are also fine (not the tub versions).
You need to use firm silken tofu, NOT regular tofu. It is most commonly the shelf-stable kind, not the fridge kind. In the UK it can usually be found either in the ‘Asian’ section of the supermarket (by the soy sauce), or next to the tinned beans. I use Mori-Nu or Clearspring. Make sure you drain off the excess liquid (no need to press it though).
I think that this vegan orange cranberry cake is perfectly sweet and delicious as it is, but you could also add an orange glaze if you wanted to pretty it up a bit.
How To Store Vegan Orange Cranberry Cake:
The cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
It also freezes well, either whole or in slices. Make sure that it is well wrapped to prevent freezer burn and freeze for up to three months. Allow to defrost at room temperature
More Vegan Loaf Cakes:
Ultimate vegan lemon drizzle cake
If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess
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Vegan Orange Cranberry Cake
Ingredients
- 150 g (1 ½ cups) fresh cranberries
- ½ Tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
- 120 g silken tofu* excess liquid drained off
- 180 ml (¾ cup) orange juice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 250 g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 25 g (2 ½ Tbsp) cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ½ tsp salt
- 250 g (1 ¼ cups) caster (superfine) sugar
- 110 g (1 stick) vegan block butter (I use Naturli Vegan Block) melted
- 30 ml (2 Tbsp) neutral oil (sunflower/mild olive etc)
- finely grated zest of 2 oranges
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease an approx 11.5 x 21.5 cm / 4.5 x 8.5 in loaf tin (2lb loaf tin) and line with a strip of baking parchment.
- Mix the cranberries with the ½ Tbsp flour until they are well coated, set aside.
- Place the silken tofu, orange juice and vanilla extract in a blender and blitz until smooth. (I just put it all in a large jug and use a stick blender).
- Place the plain flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add the melted butter, oil and orange zest to the dry ingredients and stir until no dry patches remain. Adding the fat to the flour before adding the wet ingredients helps to make the cake more soft and tender.
- Gradually whisk the wet ingredients into the dry to form a smooth batter. Fold in the cranberries.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 75 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. You can loosely cover the top of the cake with tin foil towards the end of baking if it starts to get too dark.
- Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 20 minutes then carefully turn it out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
- *You need to use firm silken tofu, NOT regular tofu. It is most commonly the shelf-stable kind, not the fridge kind. In the UK it can usually be found either in the ‘Asian’ section of the supermarket (by the soy sauce), or next to the tinned beans. I use Mori-Nu or Clearspring. Make sure you drain off the excess liquid (no need to press it though). I don't know what you could substitute it with I'm afraid.
- You can use frozen cranberries instead of fresh but do not defrost them first, use them straight from the freezer.
Albertina
Thank you for this orange cranberry cake recipe. I made this and my family loved it and it is so simple to make and so good
Janet
What a lovely cake. I used gluten free flour, and Raspberries as I couldn’t get Cranberries. I have never used Tofu before so it felt a strange ingredient to be putting in a cake, but I’ve made other recipes from here so I knew if Hannah said to use Tofu, it would work, and it did, beautifully. I shall make this again.
Janet
I continue to make and enjoy this cake. I’ve used blackberries and I’ve used gooseberries. It is always popular.
BeeH
Hi, I love you recepies and I have made a few successfully. I'm not sure what happened this time I followed the recipe to the tee. When I took it out of the oven completely deflated in the middle what happened??? The only thing I did differently was to combine the flour with the melted butter until resembles sand with a fork. I'm so disappointed, so many ingredients, I don't want to even look at it. My husband said that it looks as is going to taste good. I won't try it.
Naomi
Hi
Is the plain flour meant to be on twice? TY
Hannah
Hi Naomi, yes, the 1/2 Tbsp flour is to coat the cranberries with and the rest is for the cake.
Erika
Omg!! I just made this cake and it's so good. Thank u for an awesome recipe definitely gonna try some other recipes from you
BeeH
Never mind...I know what happened. I made a mistake with the amount of silken tofu.
My apologies.
I really get confused with grams and ounces. I'm making it again right this minute.
BeeH
Update. I cut the cake it looks like pudding. Is terrible, as if is not cooked, it was in the oven 75 minute's as indicates in the recipe..I need to know why so I won't make the same mistake next time.
BeeH
Success!!!.. delicious, just like your pic, next time before posting a review a will double check what ' I" did.. thank you ❤️
Linda
I made this today using the kind of silken tofu that’s in the refrigerator case. I haven’t been able to find the shelf stable boxes for some time here in canada. Regardless, it was perfect. I love this cake/bread and will definitely make it again.
Mikaila Garfinkel
This is such a delicious and easy recipe! I did reduce the sugar since I prefer my bakes less sweet. But I've made 3 loaves of this already - definitely going into the rotation!
Jen
A few questions: If I use dried cranberries, do I still need to coat with flour?
Would this work in 6 mini bundt pans? They are approximately 4 inches deep. But they're very decorative for holiday gifts. Alternatively, I also have a standard size bundt pan, about 10 inches diameter. If I can use mini bundt pans, how much should I fill them?
Lastly, I want to switch out orange for lemon. Would the amount of lemon zest be the same? Can I use lemon juice concentrate & how much? In other lemon poundcake recipes, I've seen a combination of zest and extract, or zest and lemon juice, or zest, extract, and juice.
Hannah
Hi Jen, no ned to coat dried cranberries with flour. I have only made this cake in a loaf tin so can't say how it would turn out in a different tin. If you give the bundt tins a try fill them about 2/3 to 3/4 full. I would use the zest of 3 large lemons. You can't swap the orange juice for the same amount of lemon as it is far more acidic, I would try using 2-3 Tablespoons of lemon juice and making it up to the 180ml with soy milk. You can also swap 1 teaspoon of the vanilla extract for lemon extract if you want more lemon flavour.I hope that helps!
Stacy
Hi, can I make this cake as muffins instead?? Thoughts, thanks Stacy
Hannah
Hi Stacy, I haven't tried but I think it should work.