This White Chocolate Cranberry Bundt Cake may be the easiest Christmas showstopper you'll bake this December! The cake is moist and warmly spiced, with tart cranberries and a sweet white chocolate topping that balances every bite. Just 15 minutes of prep, no piping bag, and no decorating skills needed. Your Bundt pan does all the hard work!
Cranberries are Christmas to me.
That deep red color, that tart little bite... they simply belong in December. So when I wanted to bake a cake that looked and tasted unmistakably Christmassy, the cranberries were staying.
But tart cranberries need something sweet to keep them in line. Enter white chocolate! It balances their sharpness and turns one simple pour into a festive topping. No piping bag, no careful decorating, and no trying to make every drip behave.
And if I am baking a proper December cake, I am not using just any cake pan. This is when my prettiest Bundt pan comes out of the cupboard.
Warm spices, tart cranberries, sweet white chocolate, and my best Bundt pan. That is Christmas cake, my way.
What do you need for a White Chocolate Bundt Cake?
You require the following ingredients to prepare this White Chocolate Cranberry Bundt Cake. You can find the correct amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the blog:
- Butter: Use unsalted butter.
- Dark brown sugar: For sweetening the turban cake. It gives a hint of caramel flavor and makes the cake creamy.
- Vanilla Extract: For a hint of vanilla flavor. If you can get it, use natural vanilla extract, which has a slightly deeper flavor than artificial vanilla extract. With this recipe, you can make a homemade vanilla extract (and, if you bake a lot, it is highly recommended because you can use this for a reasonable amount of time).
- Eggs: Provide a full flavor of the cranberry turban and bind the batter.
- Dutch syrup: van Gilse Original Syrup, gives a delicious sweet caramel flavor to the cake. You could use golden syrup if you don't have Dutch dark syrup. It's not just a flavor, it's an invert sugar syrup. That means it holds onto moisture longer than granulated sugar does. And that's why this cake stays soft on day three and not only on day one.
- Speculaas spice mix: a Dutch spice mix similar to North American Pumpkin Spice. You can find a recipe for speculaas spice mix.
- Flour: Use regular all-purpose flour
- Baking powder: Makes the cake to rise, making it airy.
- Cranberries: This juicy, sour fruit is wonderfully fruity. You can use dried cranberries. Dried cranberries need a ten minute soak in hot water to rehydrate without turning them mushy. Not longer, otherwise they will break down before they even bake in the oven.
- White Chocolate: This is used for the icing. It's sweet and buttery. Use a good quality; otherwise it will contain too much fat.
How to prepare White Chocolate Berry Bundt Cake
You can find a printable recipe with a step-by-step description at the bottom of this blog.
- Butter the turban shape. Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat for three minutes until light and airy. Add the vanilla extract and eggs while continuing to mix. Also, mix the syrup through the batter. Sift the dry ingredients: gingerbread spices, flour, and baking powder over the batter. Mix on low speed until just combined. Fold the soaked cranberries into the batter with a spatula.
- Pour the batter into the bundt tin and place in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C). Bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until the cake is done.
- Let the cranberry bundt cake cool to room temperature on a rack.
- Melt the white chocolate au Bain-Marie. Pour over the turban.
Top Tips and Variations
- Because you're using dried cranberries, you must soak them beforehand. Ten minutes in hot water is enough.
- Citrus: Add one tablespoon of orange zest and a tablespoon of Grand Marnier to the batter.
- Because you don't want to burn the chocolate, heat it in a bain-marie. To do this, you hang a bowl over boiling water. In that bowl, you let the chocolate melt slowly.
- Turban: If you don't have a turban tin, you can also bake this cake in two 26 cm cake tins.
- Preparation: Make sure you grease and flour the turban mold thoroughly to ensure that the turban comes out of the mold easily.
- Cooling: Let the turban cool in the mold for 10 minutes before you release it. It will come off better.
- Doneness: Check if the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the center of the cake. You can take the cake out of the oven if it comes out dry.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I use fresh cranberries instead of dried? Yes, use 1½ cups fresh or frozen cranberries, tossed in a tablespoon of flour before folding into the batter, so they don't sink. Expect a tarter, juicier result than the dried version.
- What can I use instead of Dutch stroop? Golden syrup is the closest substitute if you can't find Dutch stroop. You'll lose a little of the deep caramel note, but the texture holds up.
- Why did my bundt cake stick to the pan? Usually it's because of under-greasing. Butter and flour every groove of the tin thoroughly, including the center tube, and let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it out, trying to unmold it too soon is the most common cause.
- Can I make this ahead? Yes. Bake and glaze up to a day ahead; wrap tightly and keep refrigerated (see storage below), then bring to room temperature before serving.
Did you make this recipe?
So, how did it turn out? Tell me all about it (and a star rating would make my day.)
📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
White Chocolate Cranberry Bundt Cake is the ultimate December cake: maximum Christmas impact with hardly any decorating. Tart cranberries cut through the moist, warmly spiced cake, while the white chocolate topping adds sweetness and an instant festive finish. With just 15 minutes of prep, no piping bag, and no decorating skills needed, this is an easy Christmas cake that looks spectacular on the holiday table.
Recipe Help
Two easy tools to make cooking even easier. Cooking mode keeps the screen on. The easy-step recipe displays the recipe step by step, including the ingredients needed. And you can adjust servings easily
Ingredients
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 1½ cups butter, unsalted
- 1¼ cups dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 eggs, size L
- 1¼ cups Dutch syrup
- 2 tablespoons speculaas spice mix
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3½ teaspoon baking powder
- 4 oz. white chocolate
All my recipes are written both in Metric (gram / ml) and US Customary (cups / pounds). Here you can select which type of amount you would like to see.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to
350 °F (conventional oven) or 320 °F (convection oven) - Place the cranberries in a bowl and pour hot water on top. Let it stand 10 minutes, drain, and dry the cranberries.½ cup dried cranberries
- Butter a bundt cake tin. Dust with flour. Beat out the excess flour.
- Put the butter with the brown sugar in a bowl and whisk until fluffy (about 3 minutes).1½ cups butter, 1¼ cups dark brown sugar
- Add the vanilla extract and eggs, one by one, while continuing to mix. Add the next egg just as the previous one is incorporated.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 8 eggs
- Mix the syrup into the batter.1¼ cups Dutch syrup
- Put a sieve on top of the bowl. Add the speculaas spice mix, flour, and baking powder into the sieve.2 tablespoons speculaas spice mix, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 3½ teaspoon baking powder
- Sieve into the batter and mix on low speed until everything is well blended. Turn off the mixer.
- Stir the cranberries with a spatula through the cake dough.
- Pour the batter into a bundt cake tin and place in the oven. Bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until the cake is done.
- Let cool to room temperature.
- Melt the chocolate in au bain marie. Pour over the cake.4 oz. white chocolate
Notes
1. Vanilla Extract: With this recipe, you can make a homemade vanilla extract.
2. Speculaas spice mix: a Dutch spice mix similar to North American Pumpkin Spice. You can find a recipe for speculaas spice mix here.
3. Dutch syrup: van [eafl id="172668" name="Dutch Syrup - van Gilse Schenkstroop" text="Gilse Original Syrup"]. You could use golden syrup if you don't have it.
4. Tips
- Because you're using dried cranberries, you must soak them beforehand. Ten minutes in hot water is enough.
- Citrus: Add one tablespoon of orange zest and a tablespoon of Grand Marnier to the batter.
- Because you don't want to burn the chocolate, heat it in au bain-marie. To do this, you hang a bowl over boiling water. In that bowl, you let the chocolate melt slowly.
- Turban: If you don't have a turban tin, you can also bake this cake in two 26 cm cake tins.
- Preparation: Make sure you grease and flour the turban mold thoroughly to ensure that the turban comes out of the mold easily.
- When you bake a turban, ensure all ingredients are at room temperature. So remove cold ingredients from the refrigerator an hour in advance. This will give you an airy, creamy cake.
- Cooling: Let the turban cool in the mold for 10 minutes before you release it. It will come off better.
- Shake the mold lightly. If the top of the cake moves, it's not done yet.
- Press the center of a turban with your finger. If the print springs back immediately, the cake is ready. If a dimple remains visible, they need to bake a little longer.
- Stick a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean and dry, the turban is ready.
- Refrigerator: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for two days.
- Freezer: Wrap in two layers of plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 2 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Calories: 757kcalCarbohydrates: 105gProtein: 10gFat: 36gSaturated Fat: 21gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 208mgSodium: 360mgFiber: 3gSugar: 72gVitamin A: 1108IUVitamin C: 0.1mgIron: 4mg
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