Delicious Vegan Orange Cranberry Cake: A Moist & Flavorful Dairy-Free Loaf Recipe

Get ready to indulge in a truly spectacular dessert that’s not only incredibly delicious but also completely plant-based. Our Vegan Orange Cranberry Cake is a vibrant, moist, and tender loaf cake that perfectly balances the bright zestiness of orange with the tart bursts of fresh cranberries. Often affectionately known as orange cranberry bread in America, this recipe transforms simple ingredients into an unforgettable treat, ideal for snacking, breakfast, or even a festive brunch.

This isn’t just any vegan cake; it’s a meticulously crafted pound cake that boasts a rich, dense crumb, ensuring every bite is packed with flavour and melts in your mouth. The fragrant orange aroma fills your kitchen as it bakes, promising a delightful experience even before the first slice. Being eggless and dairy-free, it caters to various dietary needs without compromising on taste or texture, proving that vegan baking can be utterly luxurious.

The Secret to a Super Moist & Tender Vegan Pound Cake

Our vegan orange cranberry cake achieves its superior texture and mouthfeel through a specific baking technique known as the reverse creaming method. While it might sound advanced, it’s actually quite straightforward and incredibly effective, especially for creating a cake that’s wonderfully soft and tender without relying on traditional eggs and dairy.

Unlike the conventional creaming method where butter and sugar are beaten together first, the reverse creaming method begins by mixing the flour with the fat (in this case, vegan butter and oil). This crucial initial step coats the flour particles with fat, effectively inhibiting the development of gluten when wet ingredients are later added. Less gluten development means a softer, more delicate cake crumb that won’t become tough or chewy, even when fully loaded with juicy cranberries. This technique is a game-changer for vegan pound cakes, ensuring a consistently moist and fine-crumbed result.

This particular recipe draws inspiration from successful vegan pound cake formulas, including our popular vegan marble cake and vegan lemon pound cake recipes. These, in turn, were adapted from the brilliant insights of Izy Hossack of Top With Cinnamon, who championed the reverse creaming method for its exceptional results.

Essential Ingredients for Your Vegan Orange Cranberry Cake

Crafting this delightful vegan loaf cake requires a selection of key ingredients, each playing a vital role in achieving its perfect texture and flavour. Here’s a detailed look at what you’ll need and why each component is important:

Silken Tofu: The Ultimate Egg Replacer

Silken tofu is truly a miracle ingredient in vegan baking, especially for pound cakes. Its high water content and smooth consistency provide an unparalleled moisture and tenderness to the crumb that is hard to replicate with other egg substitutes. It binds the ingredients beautifully and contributes to the cake’s rich, dense structure. It’s crucial to use firm silken tofu, typically the shelf-stable variety found in the Asian foods aisle or near tinned beans, not the refrigerated block tofu. Unfortunately, this recipe hasn’t been tested with other substitutes due to silken tofu’s unique properties.

Orange Juice and Zest: Bursting with Citrus Flavor

The vibrant heart of this cake comes from fresh orange juice and zest. Finely grated orange zest is potent with essential oils, infusing the cake with an intense, fragrant citrus aroma and flavour. Orange juice serves as the primary liquid, not only deepening the orange taste but also acting as an acidic component. This acidity reacts with the raising agents (baking powder and bicarbonate of soda), helping the cake to achieve a lovely rise and airy texture. You can use freshly squeezed juice from your zested oranges or a good quality carton orange juice.

Vanilla Extract: Enhancing Sweetness and Aroma

A touch of good quality vanilla extract elevates the overall flavour profile of the cake, adding a warm, sweet, and comforting note that complements the orange and cranberry beautifully. Always opt for extract over essence for the purest and most authentic vanilla flavour.

Flour Blend: The Foundation of Texture

This recipe uses a combination of plain (all-purpose) flour and cornflour (cornstarch) to create an exceptionally soft texture. The cornflour lightens the protein content of the plain flour, mimicking the effect of cake flour and resulting in a finer crumb. If you happen to have cake flour on hand, you can use it entirely in place of both plain flour and cornflour for a similarly soft result. However, the plain flour and cornflour blend works wonderfully.

Baking Powder and Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda): For a Perfect Rise

These two leavening agents are indispensable for a light and well-risen cake. Baking powder provides a steady lift, while bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) reacts with the acidity of the orange juice to give an additional boost, ensuring your pound cake isn’t too dense.

Vegan Block Butter: Crucial for Structure and Richness

For the best possible texture in this vegan pound cake, using a high-quality vegan block butter or margarine is absolutely essential. These come in foil-wrapped blocks and have a lower water content than spreadable margarines in tubs, which are too watery for successful baking. Brands like Naturli Vegan Block, Flora, Stork, Vitalite, or Tormor blocks are excellent choices. While spreadable versions might work in a pinch, for a truly exceptional cake, stick to the block varieties for superior richness and structure.

Neutral Oil: Added Moisture and Tenderness

Incorporating a small amount of neutral oil alongside the vegan block butter further enhances the cake’s moisture and tenderness. Oils like sunflower, vegetable, canola, or a mild olive oil are perfect as they won’t impart a strong flavour. This addition ensures the cake remains moist for longer.

Caster Sugar: Sweetness and Fine Crumb

Caster (superfine) sugar dissolves easily, contributing to a smooth batter and a fine, even crumb. Golden caster sugar offers a slightly richer flavour, but white caster sugar works just as well. If you only have granulated sugar, a quick blitz in a blender will transform it into superfine caster sugar.

Cranberries: Tangy Bursts of Flavor

Fresh cranberries provide delightful tangy bursts that cut through the sweetness of the cake, creating a beautiful flavour contrast. Frozen cranberries can also be used; just make sure to add them directly from the freezer without defrosting first. This prevents them from bleeding colour into the batter and helps maintain their shape. If using frozen, your baking time might increase by a few minutes. For an alternative, dried cranberries can also be used, though they will offer a different texture and less tartness.

Baking Your Vegan Orange Cranberry Loaf: A Step-by-Step Guide

(For precise measurements and full instructions, please refer to the recipe card below.)

1. Prepare Your Tin and Oven: Begin by preheating your oven to the specified temperature (180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4). Grease an approximately 11.5 x 21.5 cm (4.5 x 8.5 inch) loaf tin (this is typically a 2lb loaf tin) and line it with a strip of baking parchment, ensuring the parchment hangs over the sides for easy removal later.
2. Coat the Cranberries: In a small bowl, gently toss the fresh (or frozen, undeffrosted) cranberries with ½ tablespoon of plain flour until they are lightly coated. This simple step helps to prevent the cranberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake during baking, ensuring they are evenly distributed throughout the loaf. Set them aside.
3. Blend the Wet Ingredients: In a blender or a large jug suitable for a stick blender, combine the silken tofu, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Blend until the mixture is completely smooth and free of any lumps. This ensures a consistent wet base for the batter.
4. Combine the Dry Ingredients: In a separate large mixing bowl, sift together the plain flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and caster sugar. Sifting ensures that all the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined and aerated, preventing lumps in your final batter. Give them a quick whisk to fully combine.
5. Begin the Reverse Creaming: Add the melted vegan block butter, neutral oil, and finely grated orange zest directly into the dry ingredients. Stir everything together using a spoon or spatula until there are no dry patches of flour remaining and the mixture resembles a coarse, sandy texture. This is the crucial reverse creaming step that coats the flour particles with fat, leading to a tender cake.
6. Form the Batter: Gradually pour the blended wet ingredients into the dry mixture while continuously whisking. Continue to whisk until you have a smooth and uniform batter. Be careful not to overmix; stop as soon as the batter is smooth to avoid developing too much gluten. Gently fold in the flour-coated cranberries until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.
7. Bake to Perfection: Pour the prepared batter into your greased and lined loaf tin, spreading it evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for about 75 minutes. To check for doneness, insert a skewer or toothpick into the center of the cake; it should come out clean. If the top of the cake starts to brown too quickly during baking, you can loosely cover it with a piece of tin foil to prevent over-browning.
8. Cooling Process: Once baked, remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the loaf tin for at least 20 minutes. This allows the cake to firm up slightly, making it less prone to crumbling. After 20 minutes, carefully turn the cake out onto a wire rack and let it cool completely before attempting to slice it. Slicing a warm pound cake can result in a less defined texture.

Expert Tips for a Perfect Vegan Orange Cranberry Cake

Achieving baking perfection often comes down to a few key details. Follow these tips to ensure your vegan orange cranberry cake turns out flawlessly every time:

• Precision is Key: For the most consistent and best results in baking, always measure your ingredients by weight using a digital kitchen scale, especially for flour, sugar, and butter. Cup measurements can vary significantly and are not as accurate, which can impact the final texture of your cake.
• The Right Tofu: As mentioned, firm silken tofu is non-negotiable for this recipe. Ensure it’s the shelf-stable variety and that you drain off any excess liquid before blending. Do not attempt to substitute with regular block tofu or soft/medium silken tofu, as they will yield different results.
• Block Butter is Best: Reiterate the importance of using vegan block butter over spreadable margarine. The higher water content in spreadable varieties can lead to a less desirable cake texture. Brands like Naturli, Stork, Vitalite, or Tormor blocks are ideal.
• Don’t Overmix: After combining the wet and dry ingredients, mix just until the batter is smooth. Overmixing can develop the gluten in the flour too much, resulting in a tougher cake.
• Flavor Enhancements: While this cake is delicious on its own, a simple orange glaze (made with icing sugar and orange juice) can add an extra layer of sweetness and a beautiful finish, especially if you’re presenting it for a special occasion.
• Cranberry Alternatives: If fresh cranberries are not available, frozen cranberries are an excellent substitute (use without defrosting). Dried cranberries can also be used for a sweeter, chewier texture, though they won’t offer the same tangy burst.

How to Store Vegan Orange Cranberry Cake:

To keep your delicious vegan orange cranberry cake fresh, store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. This helps maintain its moisture and flavour.

This cake also freezes exceptionally well. You can freeze it whole or sliced for convenient grab-and-go portions. Ensure it’s wrapped tightly in cling film and then in foil (or placed in a freezer-safe bag) to prevent freezer burn. It will keep well in the freezer for up to three months. When ready to enjoy, simply allow it to defrost at room temperature.

More Delightful Vegan Loaf Cakes to Try:

If you loved this recipe, explore our other equally delicious vegan loaf cake creations:

• Ultimate vegan lemon drizzle cake
• Vegan pumpkin bread
• Easy vegan banana bread
• Vegan lemon pound cake
• Vegan courgette cake
• Vegan carrot cake loaf
• Vegan marble cake

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