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Dessert

Cranberry Bundt Cake

A bundt cake made with fresh cranberries, butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, and an orange glaze.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,371 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Cranberry Bundt Cake

Oven350°F
Time50–55 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and generously butter and flour a 9" bundt pan.

  2. Use 2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter to coat the pan, working it into the grooves. Sprinkle flour over the buttered pan, distributing evenly, and discard excess.

  3. Whisk together 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and ¾ tsp kosher salt; set aside.

  4. In a bowl, sift fresh cranberries, removing mushy ones. Toss cranberries with 1 tsp all-purpose flour; set aside.

Make the batter

  1. Cream 2 sticks softened butter with 2 cups sugar. Beat on low, then mid‑high for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.

  2. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract.

  3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.

  4. Fold in half of the dry flour mixture and ½ cup sour cream.

  5. Fold in remaining dry flour until just combined, scraping sides.

  6. Fold in coated cranberries.

  7. Pour batter into pan, smoothing top.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake 50–55 minutes until spring back or tester clean.

  2. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Loosen cake by running a flat edge around pan edges and center hole.

  3. Flip pan onto cooling rack to release cake; protect hands.

  4. Let cake cool completely.

  5. Whisk 1 cup confectioners' sugar, ¼ cup orange juice, and pinch salt to make glaze. Mix glaze until smooth. Adjust glaze thickness with more sugar or juice.

  6. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake. Garnish with fresh cranberries.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

858Calories
38 gProtein
19 gFat
130 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vanilla + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and provide structure as the cake sets in the oven.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, traps air for a light crumb.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness, and creaming it with sugar helps lift the batter.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and tang, keeping the crumb tender.
All-purpose flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Cranberries
Add tart bursts of flavor and moisture throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Fold in the flour gently and only until just combined. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form; overmixing toughens the crumb and can make the cake dense.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, vanilla, egg, cream):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, vanilla, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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