Cranberry Sourdough Coffee Cake

If you happen to have sourdough starter on hand, you’re going to want to whip up this simple but delicious cake, which is loosely based on an Amish Friendship Bread. It’s packed full of delicious ingredients and so easy to make! 

Rehydrating Craisins

Before we get into the recipe, let me pause for a moment to say that I took the time to rehydrate a cup of craisins overnight for this recipe. 

The original recipe called for dried cranberries but I just wasn’t feeling it. I don’t know about you, but I love real cranberries. I didn’t happen to have any on hand, so rehydrating Craisins was the next best thing. 

I put them in a bowl, barely covered them with water, let them sit overnight, then drained off the water this morning. 

Plump, juicy cranberries! And a lot of that excess sugar washed away in the water. (Which, if I’m being honest, I was tempted to taste.) 

Now that I know I can do this, I will use rehydrated Craisins in a more baked goods! 

Sourdough Starter Discard

I happened to have starter discard that needed to be used, so I went on a search across the web for starter discard recipes. That’s how I landed on this Cranberry Sourdough Coffee Cake recipe at Taste of Home.

If you’re not familiar with the term “discard,” this is the part of the sourdough starter that you pull out to make room for more flour and water during the “feeding” process. 

I’m new to the sourdough starter world, but I’m excited about the possibilities. I’ve made a couple loaves of sourdough bread and will be posting a recipe later. 

For now, just make sure you have starter on hand for this recipe. If you don’t happen to have starter and you want to make this anyway, make a flour/water mixture (half cup of each) the night before and leave it to bubble overnight. It won’t have as much punch but should suffice for this recipe. 

For more on sourdough starters, visit Martha Stewart’s site. 

Here’s a great video on Youtube that explains the process, as well. It’s called The Ultimate Sourdough Starter Guide.

Discard

If I had to simplify the explanation of starter I would say, “start with equal parts flour and water. Stir. Let sit at room temperature to bubble a day or two. Feed it more flour and water.” 

Keep that up in the same container for more than a few days and you’ll have too much. So, what you pull off (to make room for the new feed) is called discard. 

That discard is perfect for all sorts of recipes, like English Muffins, pancakes, waffles or even Baked Doughnuts. 

I recently used it to make the most delicious Starter Discard Banana bread. (Yum!) 

Enough about sourdough starter. Let’s make some Cranberry Coffee Cake!

Cranberry Coffee Cake Ingredients

You will find a full printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. This is a simple coffee cake but there are a lot of ingredients! Thankfully, most are common and are probably in your fridge or pantry already. 

COFFEE CAKE INGREDIENTS

• all purpose flour
• light brown sugar
• vegetable oil
• sourdough discard
• instant vanilla pudding (or French vanilla, your choice)
• buttermilk
• eggs
• white sugar
• ground cinnamon
• nutmeg (or apple pie spice)
• salt
• baking soda
• baking powder
• vanilla extract (or almond extract, your choice)
• plumped Craisins

TOPPING INGREDIENTS

• granulated sugar
• ground cinnamon

Whew! That’s a lot. 

NOTE: If you don’t have buttermilk, no worries! Use 1/2 cup milk with 1/2 teaspoon vinegar. 

How to Make Cranberry Sourdough Coffee Cake

This might have a lot of ingredients but it’s probably the simplest coffee cake I’ve ever made. 

Before you begin: 

Make sure your craisins are plumped and your starter is bubbly. 

Let’s go!

Preheat your oven to 325 Fahrenheit. 

Prepare a tube pan (or bundt) by greasing and sugaring. (I know. I was hesitant, too. I had visions of the whole thing sticking to the pan.) 

In a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment) combine the first 14 ingredients. 

No, really. Everything but the cranberries. Dump it all into a bowl. 

I don’t think the order matters, but take a look at mine before I mixed it up. It looks like a chaotic mess that can’t possibly work out. 

Mix it! (But only enough to incorporate all of the ingredients. You don’t want to over-mix the flour or you’ll end up with a tough cake.) 

Fold in plumped cranberries. 

Spoon into prepared pan. You can use a tube pan or even a bundt pan.

I used an ice scoop for this very thick cake batter and then smoothed it down. 

In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon for topping. 

Sprinkle on top. 

Place in preheated 325 oven and bake for 65 – 75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Place on wire rack. 

After about 15 minutes gently remove from pan and place directly on wire rack to continue cooling. 

Slice and enjoy! 

Store leftovers at room temperature. Place in an airtight container or tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.

What to Expect from this Coffee Cake

I know I say this a lot, y’all, but when I saw this cake come out of the oven, I might have used the words, “This might be the most beautiful cake I’ve ever made!” 

Okay, I really do say that a lot. And it certainly smelled like the most delicious cake I’d made. 

(Full disclosure: I also said that with my Banana Berry Chiffon Cake and my Lemon Coconut Loaf.

Anyway, I had my concerns about getting it out of the pan, as I said above. Only, I worried for nothing. 

It came out easily. And when I slice it up. . .wow! That pop of color from the berries made my day. And their taste? They tickled my taste buds!

This cake is packed full of flavors. Honestly? I think it would be terrific in the fall, served as a breakfast cake on Thanksgiving or Christmas, when you have guests over. (Christmas brunch, anyone? This one’s perfect for the holiday season, for sure!)

The tart cranberries, the soft, tender crumb. . .it’s delicious! I think this one would go great with a cup of coffee.

I’ve made lots of coffee cakes before, one of my favorites being my Easy Cranberry Breakfast Cake . But I have to say, this one now takes the cake. This is one of those great recipes you can use again and again.

Literally. In fact, I think I’m going to start calling it cranberry bliss coffee cake!

Variations on this Recipe

I’m already thinking of so many different ways to change this cranberry coffee cake recipe, y’all! Here are a few ideas that come to mind.

Leftover cranberry sauce coffee cake: Do you have cranberry sauce left over from the holidays? Great! Swirl it into this delicious batter.

Pecans: Not a fan of cranberries? No problem. Add a cup of chopped pecans in their place. 

Extra egg: To make the recipe even richer, simply add an extra egg to the mix!

Cream cheese frosting: This cake would be idea for a tart cream cheese frosting. I can almost taste it now!

Tea cake: This batter is thick enough you could probably scoop and place batter on parchment lined baking sheets, then bake up as tea cakes. They’d be lovely for a high tea!

Banana: I think this would be an obvious choice. I would probably add a couple of mashed bananas along with the craisins. You might need to pull back a little on the oil so that cake isn’t too wet. (Similar to my Cranberry Banana Bread.

Apples: I think you could probably add a cup of finely diced apples to add to this batter in place of (or along with) the cranberries. 

Blueberry: I love blueberries in cake and I think this would be perfect for that!  Similar to my Traditional Blueberry Muffins!

Delicious Cinnamon Streusel topping: I used this in my Banana Blueberry Loaf and loved it!

Maple-Walnut (like in my Maple Walnut Coffee Cake) Yum!

Orange Juice or orange zest: Replace the buttermilk with orange juice or zest for an orange-cranberry cake. (If you like this flavor combination you might want to check out my Orange Cranberry Bread Pudding or my Orange Cranberry cookies.) Orange glaze on top would be delicious, too!

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Cake: You can swirl in leftover cranberry sauce if you like.

Loaf Pans: If you like, you can bake this up as a loaf. It’s a big recipe so it might require two loaf pans.

Really, the possibilities are endless! 

Questions People are Asking

QUESTION: Can I use fresh cranberries in this recipe?

• ANSWER: Absolutely! Just make sure they’re washed well ahead of time.

QUESTION: Can I use sour cream or Greek yogurt in place of the buttermilk in this recipe?

• ANSWER: You can, absolutely. It might make the batter a little thicker, but should taste great!

QUESTION: What about lemon zest?

• ANSWER: You can use the zest of one lemon to amp up the flavor of this cake.

QUESTION: Is this considered a holiday dessert?

• ANSWER: Cranberries are usually used around Christmas time, and even though this is technically a coffee cake (more of a breakfast treat) it’s perfectly suited for a dessert. Serve it after your Christmas dinner and your guests will swoon!

QUESTION: Can I add a crumb topping in place of the cinnamon-sugar mixture?

• ANSWER: Yes! I’ve got an easy streusel topping recipe you can try!

Other Breakfast Cakes from Out of the Box Baking: 

Enjoy the following delicious recipes from Out of the Box Baking!

• 23 Marvelous Muffin Recipes
• Homemade Cinnamon Bread
• Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

That’s it for this post, friends! I hope you enjoyed this delicious cranberry coffee cake recipe. 

If you make this recipe and love it, don’t forget to leave a review and a comment below. 

---

See this recipe at

Full Plate Thursday 

Weekend Potluck

The Lazy Gastronome

Busy Monday

---

About the Author

Janice Thompson is an author, baker, and all-around mischief maker! She has overcome a host of baking catastrophes, including a toppled wedding cake, to learn more about the baking process. Janice has published over 150 books for the Christian market but particularly enjoys writing recipes and baking devotions. To learn more about Janice or to drop her a note, visit her About the Author page.