Cranberry Cake with Hard Sauce

A beautiful and festive dessert, Easy Cranberry Cake with Hard Sauce will make a unique sweet ending for your Christmas meal. 

Full of fresh tart cranberries, this cake has it all; the colors of the season, a winning combination of flavors and textures, and the creamy, blissful yumminess of a decadent hard sauce.

Easy Cranberry Cake with Hard Sauce is my new favorite dessert. A not too sweet, super moist cake, the texture is more of a cross between pudding and cake.  It’s denser than a regular cake and out of this world delicious! It’s so good, my husband and I both had a piece for breakfast this morning. It is the holidays after all…

Whatever you do, don’t skip the Hard Sauce. This scrumptious sauce made with butter, sugar, and cream is surprisingly easy to make and elevates this old-fashioned dessert into the stratosphere!

Speaking of old-fashioned, the recipe for Easy Cranberry Cake with Hard Sauce was handed down to my friend Sarah Doctor-Williams by her grandmother.  Sarah was kind enough to share it with me, so now I can share it with you!

Cranberry Recipes:

If you like cranberries as I do, be sure to check these other delicious and popular recipes which feature cranberries: Easy No-Bake Cranberry Cheesecake, Cranberry Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip, Cranberry Sauce with Oranges and Apples, Christmas Cranberry Pie, and 3-Ingredient Easy Cranberry Brie Bites.

How to make Cranberry Cake:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Add butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, salt, milk, and cornstarch to a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes.

Fold in cranberries and gently stir to combine with the cake batter.

Pour the cake batter into a 2-quart casserole dish which has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the batter is just set and the top has started to brown.

How to make Hard Sauce:

While the cake bakes, combine butter, sugar, and cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth and creamy.

To serve, pour a healthy amount of sauce over each piece of cake.

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Cranberry Cake with Hard Sauce Recipe

Sharon Rigsby

A beautiful and festive dessert, Easy Cranberry Cake with Hard Sauce will make a unique sweet ending for your Christmas meal. Full of fresh tart cranberries, this cake has it all; the colors of the season, a winning combination of flavors and textures, and the creamy, blissful yumminess of a decadent hard sauce.

4.75 from 16 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 35 mins

Total Time 45 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8 servings

Calories 429 kcal

Ingredients

  

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Cranberry Cake Ingredients:

• ▢ 5 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
• ▢ 1-¼ cups granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2-½ cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 1-¼ cups whole milk
• ▢ 2 tablespoon cornstarch
• ▢ 2-½ cups fresh cranberries can use frozen cranberries

Hard Sauce Ingredients:

• ▢ 1 cup unsalted butter
• ▢ 1-⅔ cups granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 cup heavy cream

Instructions

 

Cranberry Cake Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Add butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, salt, milk, and cornstarch to a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes.
• Fold in cranberries and gently stir to combine with the cake batter.
• Pour the cake batter into a 2-quart casserole dish which has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and bake for 30 minutes or until the batter is just set and the top has started to brown.

Hard Sauce Directions:

• While the cake bakes, combine butter, sugar, and cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth and creamy.

To Serve:

• To serve, pour a healthy amount of the Hard Sauce over each piece of cake.

Notes

Nutrition

Calories: 429kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 5gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 32mgPotassium: 134mgFiber: 3gSugar: 35gVitamin A: 600IUVitamin C: 10.7mgCalcium: 50mgIron: 1.4mg

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