Cranberry Orange Pound Cake Mini Loaves
This Cranberry Orange Pound Cake ended up being my go-to homemade gift this season — I baked 20 mini loaves to share with our neighbors, teachers, and friends. There’s just something extra special about giving a homemade treat, especially around the holidays.
The recipe comes from one of my very best blogging friends, Eryn Whalen Online. I went back and forth between making her cranberry orange pound cake or her homemade caramels. I couldn’t decide so I texted her to ask which one I should make — one of the perks of having creative friends, right?
While Eryn said you really can’t go wrong with either, she admitted she’s partial to the pound cake… so that settled it! And I’m so glad that’s what I went with! The cakes were honestly SO DELICIOUS (so delicious that I ate an entire mini loaf by myself while baking the 2nd batch), festive, simple, and absolutely perfect for gifting!
Simple Ingredients That Make This Pound Cake So Moist
This cranberry orange pound cake is made with simple, everyday ingredients, but a few special touches make it truly stand out. Cream cheese, butter, heavy cream, and eggs give the cake that rich, dense, ultra-moist texture we all love.
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Fresh cranberries, orange zest, and a splash of orange juice add just the right amount of tanginess. A little vanilla and white chocolate bring it all together, making this one of those cakes that feels both comforting and extra special!
I’ve always loved baking and cooking with cranberries — especially during the holiday season. Their bright, tart flavor just feels festive to me, whether it’s in my cranberry orange scones, cozy cranberry orange walnut muffins, or my mother-in-law’s classic cranberry jello with mandarin oranges and pecans.
Even our longtime family favorite celebration salad wouldn’t feel the same without cranberries. So of course a cranberry orange pound cake was a huge win!
These worked so great as gifts. I grabbed the disposable mini loaf tins from the baking aisle at Walmart, which made baking and gifting super easy. Once they cooled, I wrapped each loaf with Press ’n Seal to keep everything fresh, then added a paper doily on top and tied it all together with jute ribbon and a festive gift bow. Simple, cute, and perfect for sharing (I even paired some of the loaves with my homemade Snowball Cookies aka Mexican Wedding Cookies.
Printable Recipe Card
Eryn has the most beautiful photos of the step-by-step instructions on her blog. Definitely check them out! I was in a little swamped baking 20 loaves and other delicious desserts that I didn’t manage to snap many in-process photos!
Cranberry Orange Pound Cake Mini Loaves (Moist Cream Cheese Pound Cake)
Equipment
Ingredients
Pound Cake
- 1 1/2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 c fresh cranberries
- 3 tbs orange zest
- 1/4 c bottled orange juice no pulp
- 1/2 c white chocolate chips
- 1/2 c butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 c granulated sugar
- 1/2 c heavy whipping cream
- 4 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze
- 3 tbs butter melted
- 1/3 c powdered sugar
- 1 tbs fresh squeezed orange juice
Instructions
Preheat Oven & Prepare Pans
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Generously spray vegetable cooking spray into each mini loaf pan
Dry Ingredients
- In a medium sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside
Wet Ingredients
- In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, vanilla extract, orange zest, and juice. Set aside
- Using an electric mixer, cream room temperature butter, until smooth
- Add in sugar, heavy cream, and cream cheese, just until incorporated
- Slowly add in the egg mixture to the butter mixture on low speed
Combine Wet to Dry Ingredients & Coat Cranberries
- With the mixer on a low speed, slowly add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients
- After half of the dry ingredients have been added to the wet ingredients, toss the fresh cranberries and white chocolate chips into the remaining flour mixture and toss to coat
- Slowly add the rest of the flour, cranberries and chips to the mixer
Bake
- Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean
Glaze
- In a liquid mixing cup, melt the butter
- Stir in the powdered sugar and fresh orange juice into the butter
- Drizzle over the loaves and bread
- While the glaze is still wet, zest an orange over top so the zest dries in the glaze
Notes
Nutrition
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Stephanie—home cook, DIY addict, seasonal decor fanatic, and proud chicken wrangler living in a Victorian house that’s always a project. Whether I’m cooking with garden-fresh ingredients, herding mischievous chickens, or tackling another DIY, I’m here to share the fun (and chaos).
Stephanie
These sounds so yummy! Have you ever made them gluten free?
Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas❣️
Hi Mrs. Hopkins!! Thank you! hope you all had a wonderful Christmas also!!! No, I haven’t made them gluten free…but that is something I could try experimenting with! .. I’ll keep you posted!