White Chocolate Cranberry Pound Cake
This moist and soft White Chocolate Cranberry Pound Cake is so decadent and delicious. The combination of sweet, rich white chocolate and bright, tart cranberries is so flavorful- it is the perfect dessert for fall and winter celebrations, and is so pretty when sliced!
Table of Contents
Ingredients at a Glance
You can find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick at the star ingredients.
- White Chocolate- We used Ghirardelli white chocolate chips. (We've also used Ghirardelli white chocolate baking bars with good results).
- Unsalted Butter- We used unsalted since we added our salt separately. If using salted butter, you can omit the salt.
- Heavy Cream- Adds richness and velvety soft texture (just as with our whipping cream pound cake).
- Cake Flour- The low protein content of cake flour makes for an soft, tender cake.
- Baking Powder & Salt
- Vanilla Extract- We used pure vanilla extract
- Cranberries (fresh or frozen) which will be sliced into smaller pieces.
How to Make White Chocolate Cranberry Cake
You can find the recipe card is at the bottom of this post, here is a quick look at our steps!
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour tube pan or 10 or 12 cup bundt pan.
- Chop the cranberries into small pieces. We placed the sliced cranberries in a strainer and rinsed them to wash away most of the seeds. (Cranberry seeds are tiny & soft, it is okay to have some seeds.) Gently pat dry and set aside.
- In a microwave safe bowl, pour heavy cream over 5 oz. white chocolate (we used white chocolate Ghirardelli chips) and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir, then continue in smaller increments until the chocolate is almost melted. Stir until smooth and completely melted and well combined. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl whisk the cake flour, salt, and baking powder for 30 seconds to combine, set aside for later.
- Cream the softened butter on medium speed with an electric mixer (use a paddle attachment if using a stand mixer). Add the vanilla extract. Gradually add the sugar and beat until lightened in color and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, waiting a few seconds after each addition until yolk has blended.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the white chocolate/cream mixture to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. I add the dry ingredients 3 times and wet ingredients twice. Mix just until blended.
- Gently stir in the sliced cranberries.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared bundt pan or tube pan and use the back of a spoon to smooth.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 70-80 minutes or until a toothpick or long skewer comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Baking times may vary depending on pan, etc. and so it is best to peek in at around the one hour mark and adjust time accordingly.
Decorating the Cake
We topped our cake with a glaze of melted white chocolate. We placed white chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl, and heated in small increments until almost melted. Then, we stirred until smooth.
The melted white chocolate can either be spooned over the cake, or applied using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.
More White Chocolate Cakes
We have more white chocolate cakes for you to try! Don't miss our white chocolate velvet cake, white chocolate raspberry cake, and more!
Also, if you love cranberry cakes, we have a great cranberry orange cake and white chocolate cranberry layer cake as well!
Thanks so much for stopping by today! We hope you enjoy this white chocolate cranberry pound cake as much as we have. Make sure to check out our full collection of cake recipes as well as cake decorating tutorials!
White Chocolate Cranberry Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened (339g)
- 3 cups sugar (600g)
- 5 large eggs, room temperature (place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes if you are in a hurry)
- 3 cups cake flour (342g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder (2g)
- 1 teaspoon (6g) salt (6g)
- 1 cup heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) (242g)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (12g)
- 5 oz white chocolate (We used Ghirardelli white chocolate chips. You could also use white chocolate baking bars.)
- 1½ cup cranberries (you can use fresh or frozen- adjust amount to your liking.)
For the White Chocolate Glaze
- 3.5 oz White Chocolate (We used Ghirardelli Chips- adjust amount to your liking)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour tube pan or 10 or 12 cup bundt pan.
- Chop the cranberries into small pieces. We placed the sliced cranberries in a strainer and rinsed them to wash away most of the seeds. (Seeds are soft, it is okay to have some seeds.) Gently pat dry and set aside.
- In a microwave safe bowl, pour heavy cream over 5 oz. white chocolate and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir, then continue in smaller increments until the chocolate is almost melted. Stir until smooth and completely melted and well combined. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl whisk the cake flour, salt, and baking powder for 30 seconds to combine, set aside for later.
- Cream the softened butter on medium speed with an electric mixer (use a paddle attachment if using a stand mixer). Add the vanilla extract. Gradually add the sugar and beat until lightened in color and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, waiting a few seconds after each addition until yolk has blended.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the white chocolate/cream mixture to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. I add the dry ingredients 3 times and wet ingredients twice. Mix just until blended.
- Gently stir in the sliced cranberries.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared bundt pan or tube pan and use the back of a spoon to smooth.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 70-80 minutes or until a toothpick or long skewer comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Baking times may vary depending on pan, etc. and so it is best to peek in at around the one hour mark and adjust time accordingly. This recipe makes approximately 8 cups of batter.
Applying the White Chocolate Drip
- Melt the white chocolate in the microwave in very small increments (15-20 seconds or less), stirring in between, until almost completely melted. Then stir until smooth.
- You can spoon over the cake, but we applied ours with a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.
I'd like to make this. Are you in Canada? Where do u find Ghirardelli chocolate? I've never seen it here.
Hi Jody I'm in Canada. Check out VanillaFoodCompany.ca they sell white chocolate. Not Ghiradelli but other good brands.
I just the Ghiradelli White Chocolate Chips on Amazon.ca, not cheap though.
You could easily use the Hershey's Chipit White chocolate Chips and get a very good result and not break the bank.
I hope that helps, Happy Holidays :-)
Thanks Teri for the info!
Jody, I just mentioned the brand as people often ask but just go with the white chocolate that is available to you- it should work fine! ;0)
Very festive! Love it! :-)
Thanks!!
Just wondering if I could use dried cranberries in this recipe? Do you think it would work if I soaked them for a while to rehydrate them?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi Janet! It seems like that could work, I just haven't tried it. These are the methods that came up for me when I searched it if you'd like to try! :0) Hope you enjoy the recipe.
Microwave Method:
Cover dried cranberries with water or another liquid in a microwave-safe bowl, cover, and microwave on high for 30–60 seconds. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Hot Liquid Method:
Pour very hot liquid over the dried cranberries and let stand for 20 minutes.
Soaking Method:
Soak dried cranberries in water or another liquid, like fruit juice, for about 30 minutes. You can soak them for longer, but there's no need to soak them overnight.
Haven't tasted it yet and it didn't turn out quite as pretty as I wanted, but I think it will be OK.
Dee, I'm glad you made it! Hope you enjoy it- I just had a slice that I had frozen last night ;0)