Cranberry Christmas cake is the perfect dessert for your holiday meals

Fruitcake gets a bad rap during the holiday season. But the truth is that sweet, seasonal fruit deserves a starring role in your holiday baked goods, and fruit-based cakes don’t have to be heavy or soggy like the fruitcakes of yore. This light, airy cranberry Christmas cake recipe will finally end the fruitcake bashing and give a yummy, trendy update to those fussy, old-fashioned versions that gathered dust on the dessert table.

To make cranberry Christmas cake, you need only a few simple ingredients: Eggs, butter, flour, almond extract, sugar and fresh cranberries. You can dust the top of the finished cake with powdered sugar or make a glaze for extra sweetness. An orange glaze would be the perfect complement to cranberry Christmas cake, as would a vanilla almond glaze. Garnish the top with fresh sprigs of mint, slices of fresh oranges and whole cranberries for a picture-perfect holiday look.

You can bake your cranberry Christmas cake in a regular cake pan, or you can use loaf pans or bundt pans. Try using a holiday-themed bundt pan like this option on Amazon to make your cake extra special.

Find the recipe for cranberry Christmas cake on Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons.

If you’re short on time (and who isn’t during the hectic holiday season?), try this recipe for cranberry Christmas cake from Let’s Dish which uses white cake mix to save on prep. Made with milk, sour cream and fresh orange zest, this recipe doesn’t taste like you took any shortcuts. Top with an icing made of cream cheese, butter, orange zest and powdered sugar and then sprinkle chopped pecans on top to complete your festive cranberry Christmas cake.

For those who need a gluten-free option, try this recipe from Barefeet in the Kitchen. The recipe calls for brown rice flour and potato starch among other ingredients to sub for regular flour, but your guests will never know it’s gluten-free!