White Chocolate Cranberry Pound Cake
A quick loaf made festive with white chocolate, fresh cranberry, and a luscious cream cheese frosting.
Moist, buttery, just sweet enough… what’s better than pound cake? Maybe, just maybe, a pound cake that’s studded with tart cranberries, sweet white chocolate and slathered in cream cheese frosting. I think that can certainly give traditional pound cake a run for its money. It’s our White Chocolate Cranberry Pound Cake and it’s just about as festive as pound cake can get. And just about as delicious too.
Though it certainly looks like there’s a lot going on in this pound cake, it’s really not a terribly long ingredients list. There’s the usual pound cake stuff like butter, sugar, flour, and eggs and then just a touch of heavy cream, and some fresh cranberries and white chocolate.
It’s reasonably simple too — just cream together your butter and sugar well, and then beat in the eggs, followed by the dry ingredients and the cream. The cranberries and white chocolate go in last, and you’ll want to stir those in by hand rather than use your mixer so you don’t break them up. Tossing the cranberries in a little dusting of flour helps to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
This is a dense loaf, so baking takes at least a full hour, but be patient with it as it might take a tad longer to bake all the way through. When a cake tester poked in the center comes out clean, you know you’re good.
But not so fast! I know you’re eager to slice this baby up, but you definitely want to let it cool in the pan for fifteen minutes before even removing it. (That’s a good time to make your frosting). And you want to let it cool completely before you slice into it. It’s such a dense and delicious loaf that it will slump a bit if you slice while it’s still warm.
Cream cheese frosting makes everything better, but it’s not totally necessary if you’re not into the idea… But it does give those dried cranberries something to stick to and the combination of texture (and flavor!) between those and the fresh cranberries inside is divine.
White Chocolate Cranberry Pound Cake
Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 tablespoon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup fresh cranberries (or frozen, thawed)
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
For the frosting & garnish:
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Handful of dried cranberries
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a loaf pan with butter and flour, shaking out excess. Line with parchment paper, leaving edges to overhang sides so you can easily lift out cake. (8.5x4.5-inch or 9x5-inch loaf pan.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Toss cranberries in 1 tablespoon flour. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the sugar and continue beating until pale and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
- With mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the heavy cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until combined.
- Stir in the white chocolate, then gently stir in cranberries.
- Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan, then smooth the top out with a rubber spatula.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 60-65 minutes. If top begins to brown too quickly, cover lightly with aluminum foil.
- Let cake cool in pan 15 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.
- When cake has cooled, prepare the frosting:
- In a clean mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth, then mix in vanilla extract.
- Spread on top of cooled cake, then sprinkle with dried cranberries. Enjoy!