Leftover Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake

Leftover Cranberry Coffee Cake is the perfect thing to bake when you’ve got cranberry sauce to use up! Jumbo lumps of almond streusel, a ribbon of sweet cranberry swirl in the center, and a moist, delicious cake all around!

Day after Thanksgiving or Christmas breakfast. Check.

Asking for a friend: calories don’t count on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, right?

This warm and cozy orange cinnamon cranberry sauce coffee cake is the perfect thing to serve for breakfast the next day. When you’re done setting aside a little bit of the cranberry sauce for your moist-maker sandwich, use the rest to make homemade cranberry coffee cake.

It has crunchy almonds on top and a sprinkle of orange zest that pairs beautifully with the cranberry sauce in the center, and can we just say that those jumbo lumps of streusel topping will knock your socks off?

Your whole house is about to smell warm and cozy and Christmasy. A warm cup of coffee or even a London fog latte to go alongside this cake is truly all you need!

Ingredients for leftover cranberry sauce coffee cake:

• Unsalted Butter: We’ll use the butter in both the streusel topping and the coffee cake. You’ll want to melt the butter for the streusel topping so that it’s super easy to combine. The other stick of butter should be at room temperature so that it’s soft enough to beat for the coffee cake.
• All-Purpose Flour: I typically use unbleached flour for all my baked goods.
• Kosher Salt: the sodium helps enhance the flavor of the sugar and all the other ingredients in the recipe. We’ll use it in both the crumb topping as well as the coffee cake itself. 
• Eggs: are used to add flavor, texture, and structure in the form of protein to the coffee cake. Remember, a coffee cake is a bit more dense than a traditional cake so that’s why we’re using an extra egg in the batter.
• Leavening agents: You’ll need both baking powder and baking soda for this recipe. These ingredients will react with the sour cream and milk that we’re using and cause the coffee cake to rise.
• Sugar: You’ll need both brown sugar and granulated sugar for this recipe. Granulated sugar will go into the cake batter and a 50:50 ratio of brown and granulated sugar will go into the streusel we’ll sprinkle on top of our coffee cake.
• Sour cream: adds a beautiful little tang to the cake. In the past, I’ve also used plain yogurt or greek yogurt in place of sour cream and it usually works pretty well. I do suggest using a good full-fat or higher-fat yogurt. None of the 0% stuff, please!
• Milk: helps thin out the batter just a tad bit.
• Extracts: You’ll need both vanilla extract and almond extract for this cake. Don’t worry if you’re not an almond extract fan! We aren’t using a ton in this recipe. If you’re worried, you can omit the almond extract and just up the vanilla by another 1/2 teaspoon. This is my favorite almond extract; it smells so good!
• Leftover cranberry sauce: whether you make cranberry sauce from scratch or you buy it in a can, you can make this recipe. You’ll need 1 cup of cranberry sauce for this cake. Keep in mind that cranberry sauce is different from cranberry jelly. Be sure to use a sauce that has some whole berries for added texture. Bonus: did you know that cranberries are a powerhouse of nutrition? They’re a good source of vitamin C, vitamin E, and fiber.

Instructions on how to make cranberry sour cream coffee cake:

1. Make the crumb topping. Add the almonds, salt, flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon to a bowl and whisk it together using a fork. A fork works best because you can rake it and create crumbs once you add the melted butter. It forms really large crumbs, don’t worry; once it cools down, you can break up the crumbs as needed.
2. Prep work. Start by preheating the oven. You’ll also want to spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. I typically line the springform pan with parchment but that’s optional. Set this aside for now.
3. Combine the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt to a small bowl. Mix this together and set it aside until you’re ready to add it to the whipped butter mixture.
4. Make the batter. Whip the softened butter in a bowl until airy. Then add the granulated sugar and the orange zest. Mix together until the sugar and butter combine. Then add the eggs, one at a time, waiting until the first is mixed in before adding the next. Flavor the cake with almond extract and vanilla extract. Then we’ll add the dry ingredients alternating it in batches with the sour cream and the milk. Start with ⅓ of the dry ingredients, run the mixer, then add the sour cream, dry ingredients, milk, and finally, the remaining dry ingredients. I like to stir the batter by hand with a rubber spatula towards the end so that you don’t end up over-mixing it.
5. Bake a cake. Spoon half of the batter into the prepared springform pan. Drop the cranberry sauce in dollops over the cake batter. And finally, spread the remaining cake batter over the cranberry sauce. Sprinkle the prepared crumb topping over the cake and bake it in the oven until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Crumbs are fine; you just don’t want wet batter on the skewer. Cool the springform pan on a wire rack.

If you like this recipe, you might also like:

• Brown Butter Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
• One Bowl Lemon Olive Oil Pound Cake
• Cinnamon Apple Crumb Cake
• Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Coffee Cake
• Warm & Cozy Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Yield: Serves 10

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Leftover Cranberry Coffee Cake is the perfect thing to bake when you've got leftover cranberry sauce to use up! Jumbo lumps of almond streusel, a ribbon of sweet cranberry swirl in the center, and a moist, delicious cake all around!bdesser

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Ingredients

Crumb topping:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
• ½ cup toasted slivered almonds
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
• ⅓ cup EACH: light brown sugar AND granulated sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Cranberry Cake:

• 2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon EACH: baking soda AND kosher salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
• Zest of 1 orange
• 3 large eggs, room temp
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• ⅓ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 cup leftover cranberry sauce (or store-bought)

Instructions

1. CRUMB: In a medium bowl, combine the almonds, salt, flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. Combine with a fork. Use the fork to stir while you pour in the melted butter, breaking up any large crumbs. Place the bowl in the fridge while you make the batter.
2. PREP: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray; set aside.
3. DRY: In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, soda, and kosher salt.
4. BATTER: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add sugar and orange zest and continue to beat for another 1-2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time waiting until each is incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla and almond extract; mix to combine. Stop the mixer; scrape down the sides. With the mixer on low, add the following ingredients, ⅓ of the dry ingredients, then the sour cream, another ⅓ of dry ingredients, then the milk, and finally the remaining dry ingredients. Do not overmix. The batter with be quite thick and that’s okay.
5. BAKE: Spread half of the batter in the prepared pan. Drop the cranberry sauce in dollops and then spread it out. Top with the remaining cake batter. Use an offset spatula sprayed with cooking spray to help spread it easily. Top with prepared crumb topping. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out mostly clean. Loosely tent the cake with foil if the top starts browning too much at any point. Crumbs are fine, just no wet batter! Let cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from the springform pan.

Notes

• Storage: Store any leftover coffee cake in an airtight container to keep it from drying out. Coffee cake naturally has a more denser texture than other cakes so it's best when consumed in 1-3 days.

Have you made this recipe?

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