Cranberry Orange Breakfast Cake with an Orange Caramel Glaze

We made this cake Thanksgiving morning for our breakfast and I have to say it was absolutely delicious! I know what you're thinking, "cake for breakfast?!" Well my answer is what do you think a pancake is, all the same ingredients just flat right and there is orange zest in this recipe so there's your vitamin C right? That's my justification and I'm sticking to it!

Author: Alexandra's Kitchen

Modified by: Me!

Cranberry Orange Breakfast Cake

Cranberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake with an Orange Caramel Glaze
Serves 6-8

Notes: This recipe is essentially the Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake recipe but with cranberries swapped for the blueberries. I increased the sugar to 1 cup (from 7/8 cup) b/c cranberries are a bit tart and substituted orange zest for the lemon zest. If you don’t like cranberries, many people have had luck with frozen blueberries — glance through the comments over here for tips.

Also, this batter can be prepared the night before. Don’t store it in the pan you plan on baking it in — store it in tupperware of some sort, then transfer to a greased pan in the morning.

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
the zest from 1 orange zest
1 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt

A dash or two of ground cloves

2 cups fresh cranberries

½ cup buttermilk (I use powdered butter milk that mixes with water so I never have to waste anything)

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with orange zest and 1 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the cranberries with 2 tablespoons of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the cranberries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes, then check for doneness by touching the top gently or by inserting a toothpick. If necessary, return pan to oven, check every five minutes or so — it took my cake a little bit over 45 minutes to cook. (Note: Baking for as long as 50 minutes might be necessary, especially if you made the batter in advance.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Orange Caramel Glaze

1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons fresh orange juice (it took 2 oranges to get what I needed and really after the first orange you just add what you prefer to taste. Remember though that this glaze will taste really sugary until it is drizzled on the cake so don't add too much orange juice and make the glaze too runny!)

1 tablespoon caramel syrup (you can use vanilla extract if you don't have caramel)

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl that can be sealed. Drizzle over individual cake slices, warm in the microwave for about 15 seconds and enjoy! 

One of the most frequently asked questions about the buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake was if the batter could be prepared the night before. Several of you attempted and had success, so I tried it with this one. It worked perfectly — thanks!