Cranberry Bread

This Cranberry Bread recipe is made with Olive oil and Ricotta which gives it a beautiful moist texture. It is super easy to make and can be made ahead. Cranberry bread has a tangy lemon glaze and can be made with fresh or frozen fruit - perfect for using up any extra holiday cranberries!

Hi hi! Hope you are having a great week. I am just popping in to share this Cranberry Bread recipe. I have made this cake a bunch of times over the last few weeks while testing, and we are yet to get sick of it. I love making loaf cakes and quick bread recipes, and this cranberry bread is the best of both worlds.

This homemade cranberry bread is super easy to make, while still being crazy delicious. It is a great way to use up any cranberries that you have lurking, or is a great reason to grab an extra bag next time you are at the store. I finished it with a quick lemon glaze made with lemon juice and powdered sugar, but you can finish it any way that you like!

Ingredients in Cranberry Bread

This Cranberry Bread recipe is super easy to make and comes together without a stand mixer or electric mixer.

• Granulated Sugar - The sugar is needed to offset the tartness of the cranberries. I like to rub the zest of a lemon into the sugar before I start the mixing process, which helps to release the oils and bring through the lemon flavour.
• Ricotta - I use whole milk ricotta in the cranberry bread - this lends moisture and the most delicious texture.
• Almond Meal - I love adding a little almond meal into my loaf cakes to help with texture. It gives flavour and helps to keep the inside of the cake beautiful and moist (I know we hate this word, but this cake truly is amazing and so moist).
• Cranberries - I made this with frozen cranberries as I had a whole bunch in my freezer. However you can absolutely sub these for fresh cranberries. I made this with that spare bag of cranberries you may have lurking in your fridge around Thanksgiving or Christmas.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Baking with Olive Oil has become one of my favourite things. I love the fruity flavour and complexity it adds to recipes.

Baking with Olive Oil

When you are baking with Olive Oil in recipes. It's not a straight swap between butter and Oil - you will need to do some conversions. I love subbing butter in recipes with a high quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The oil lends a great flavour but also helps a lot with the texture of the Cranberry Bread

In this particular recipe it works so well with the ricotta and lemon in the cake. Filippo Berio's 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil is super complex in flavour - it is fruity with a peppery finish, while still nice and light to use in the cranberry bread. I always have a bottle on hand in my house - it goes into baking just as well as it does shaken up into a salad dressing.

If you want to use something else from the line, Filippo Berio's California Extra Virgin or their Delicato would work great here too. I love all of them, so use what you have, but anything by Filippo Berio would be amazing here.

Frequently asked questions

Can cranberry bread be made with fresh cranberries?
Yep! I tested this with frozen fruit, so you can easily switch to fresh. This recipe would be perfect if you have an extra bag of cranberries floating around from Thanksgiving! I haven't tested this with dried cranberries but it should work - you could also add in some nuts.

Can this be made with other fruit?
Yes! I tested this cranberry bread recipe with Raspberries and Blueberries and it worked well. Just make sure that you toss them in a tiny bit of flour before you add them so that they don't sink too much.

Can Cranberry bread be made ahead of time?
This can definitely be made ahead of time. The Olive Oil and Ricotta in the recipe help to keep this nice and moist, so you can just store it wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature or in an airtight container once it is cooled. You can either store it glazed or unglazed.

How do you store cranberry bread?
Keep cranberry bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.

What is a good substitute for Almond meal?
I love adding a tiny bit of almond meal to loaf cakes to add texture. If you have someone with a nut allergy in the house or you don't have access to almond meal, you can sub for more all-purpose flour.

Recipe Notes

• Make sure that all your ingredients are at room temperature before you start making this cranberry bread. I like to measure out the ricotta first and bring to room temp in a bowl, so that you don't have to warm up the whole container.
• If you want to do a different glaze on this, go ahead! You can make yours a little thinner if you would like. Alternatively you can leave it off all together, and finish this with a dusting of powdered sugar.
• This cake is great to make ahead! I have added notes in the FAQ section about making ahead.
• I used a 1lb loaf pan to make this (approximately 9" x 5" x 2.7" / 23 x 12 x 7cm). Alternatively you can use a larger loaf pan but the loaf will bake up a little flatter.
• If you would like, substitute the lemon zest and lemon juice in the cake and icing for orange zest and orange juice for a cranberry orange bread with an orange glaze.

For more loaf cake recipes, check out:

Thank you so much to my friends at Filippo Berio for sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own. Thank you so much for supporting the businesses who support Cloudy Kitchen!

Print