After the Thanksgiving turkey is done and it is still a month before the next turkey roasting, there is always that 1/2 jar of cranberry sauce sitting in the fridge looking lonely. When I happened upon a recipe that used cranberry sauce instead of jam in a filling for a cake I thought hmmmm that might be a good idea. I have made coffee cake with fresh cranberries and it was yummy so using cranberry sauce should be even better. We have cranberries growing in the wetlands in our area so my Mom is always picking baskets of cranberries in the fall. She also makes most of them up into cranberry sauce, so having another recipe that will use cranberry sauce is a welcome addition to the recipe box.
The actual cake recipe is a regular coffee cake batter so the ingredients are those you will have on hand. I used full fat sour cream as the liquid ingredient, but I am sure plain yogurt would work just as well. The pecans balance out the sweetness of the cranberry sauce just perfectly. Feel free to substitute whatever nuts you happen to have on hand. I am thinking that walnuts would be a good match as well. The sprinkle of sugar on top of the nuts makes a nice crunchy topping. This time I used raw sugar and it really does add a nice sparkle to the topping, but brown or granulated would work just as well.
A coffee cake is a great recipe to have as it makes a great dessert, topped with ice cream or a great addition to a brunch menu. With the cranberry and nuts this coffee cake will fit in perfectly anywhere on your holiday menu. If you are one of those people who actually don’t like cranberry sauce- like my husband, please give this a try as he was convinced it was jam and not cranberries. Hopefully when you do make this cake you will have a few slices left over so that after the dishes are done, you can sit back and enjoy a slice of Cranberry Pecan coffee cake with a nice cup of tea!
- ½ cup butter, room temp
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1½ cups sour cream-full fat
- 1 cup cranberry sauce
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- 2 tbsp raw sugar
- Preheat oven to 350 ℉. Butter a 4l bundt pan.
- Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream . Ensure it is well blended.
- Spread half of the batter in the bundt pan, smooth with a knife.
- Spoon the cranberry sauce over the batter. Sprinkle ½ of the pecans over the cranberry sauce.
- Spread the remaining batter over top, smoothing with a knife.
- Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of pecans over the top of the batter. Sprinkle the raw sugar over the pecans.
- Bake 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool in pan on cooling rack for at least 20 minutes.
- Invert cake onto rack, then invert on to serving plate so that the pecan side is up.