Every year around the holidays, my mom would make a deliciously moist cranberry cake with a decadent butter sauce. She started with my Aunt Patti’s handwritten recipe (Aunt Patti is my mom’s little sister) and wrote little notes on it to get it just the way she wanted it.
What emerged was a sweet-yet-tangy, deliciously festive cake that you just wanted to eat more of. And I KNEW I had to recreate it this year in my healthy-delicious way! So I did just that with my cranberry-orange cake.
How to Make Cranberry-Orange Cake with “Butter” Sauce
Everything’s Better with Butter
I think it was Paula Dean who coined this phrase? What’s a vegan to do when there’s no butter in the mix?! Well, my friends, there are some amazing things in this world that can yield buttery flavor without the need for lactaid:
- Vegan Butter: never fear – these are not the vegan butters of yore! Granted, you have to do a little research to find one that tastes just right but it is soooooo worth it!
- Ghee: though technically not vegan, ghee is clarified butter, which means the milkfat has been skimmed off. For those of us who are lactose-intolerant, ghee gives a wonderful buttery flavor without the milk after-effects.
- Butter-flavored Coconut Oil: For real. Like, who knew?? You can get all the benefits of coconut oil with the flavor of butter. My life is complete!
Tips for Making Cranberry-Orange Cake with “Butter” Sauce
Make Ahead
If you’re serving this for a get-together and don’t want to be fussing with dessert the day of, you can absolutely make this ahead of time! The cake will do well for 2-3 days in the fridge or even longer in the freezer. The sauce can also be made a few days ahead – just be sure to heat it up enough to pour (or drench) the cake just before serving.
Fruit Swaps
This cake is really versatile, so you don’t need to save it for cranberry season! You can use it for with any kind of berries (you may need to increase baking times) or top it with stone fruit or sautéed apples – so yum! In those cases, you may want to swap the “butter” sauce for some coconut whipped cream or vegan vanilla ice cream.
Don’t Lose the Orange
You may be tempted to ditch the orange zest in this recipe. After all, it’s not in the traditional version of this cake. However, I urge you to reconsider. The orange zest really makes this cake “pop” and adds a bit of lift – complementing the cranberries and lifting it from an “ordinary” dessert to something really special. Seriously, you’ll be happy you did it.
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Cranberry-Orange Cake with “Butter” Sauce
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 cake squares 1x
- Category: Dessert
Description
This cranberry-orange cake is moist and scrumptious and comes with a decadent vegan butter sauce, to boot! Perfect for the holidays or anytime you want an easy show-stopper.
Ingredients
Cranberry Cake Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
- ¼ cup oat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 large eggs (or 2 flax eggs – see note 1)
- ½ cup 100% pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 TB vanilla extract
- Zest of one medium orange
- ½ tsp salt
“Butter” Sauce Ingredients
- ¼ cup vegan butter, ghee, or coconut oil (see note 2)
- 2 TB 100% pure maple syrup
- 2 TB Full fat coconut oil
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole cranberries (fresh or frozen)
Instructions
Cake Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350-degrees and line an 8×8-inch square pan with parchment.
- In a large bowl, whisk dry ingredients (almond flour through baking powder) until no visible lumps remain. In a medium bowl, whisk remaining ingredients (eggs or flax eggs through salt). Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until just well combined, then fold in cranberries. Pour into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (20-25 mins). Set aside to cool and then cut into 16 squares.
“Butter” Sauce Directions
- Whisk all ingredients in a small bowl.
- You can either drizzle this over the individual cake portions or do it my mom’s way: take a toothpick and stick holes all through the cake. Heat the butter sauce until it’s good and liquidy and pour over entire cake, allowing the sauce to seep through the toothpick holes. So scrumptious!
Notes
Note 1: to make 1 Flax Egg, mix 1 TB flaxmeal with 3 TB warm water and let sit 5-10 mins to gel.
Note 2: The most authentic “butter” sauce comes from either using a good quality vegan butter, ghee or a butter-flavored coconut oil. It really does taste like butter! Personally, though, I prefer the regular coconut oil flavor better. You do you!
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