Orange Cranberry Loaf

Name: Orange Cranberry Loaf
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 1 h 20 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients: 1/2 cup/113 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), melted, plus more for the pan; 1 3/4 cups/225 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan; 2 large oranges; 1 cup/200 grams plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; 1/2 cup whole-milk yogurt; 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon baking soda; 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal); 3 large eggs; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; 1 1/2 cups/170 grams cranberries, fresh or frozen but not thawed

By Samantha Seneviratne

Updated Nov. 6, 2023

Orange Cranberry Loaf — Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.

Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes plus cooling
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Rating: 5(604)
Comments: Read comments

Orange and cranberry are a wintery match made in heaven. This loaf has a good amount of orange zest, which releases its essential oils when ground together with the sugar to give the cake a lot of flavor and a beautiful orange hue. A little orange juice, swirled together with yogurt, ensures a super moist crumb. The plump cranberries burst in the oven and dot the loaf with welcome pockets of tartness. When they are in season, fresh cranberries are perfect here, but frozen will work just as well. Do not thaw them before swirling them into the batter but do note that frozen cranberries will increase the overall bake time a bit. Freeze the baked loaf, well-wrapped, for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature to serve.

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 8

½cup/113 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), melted, plus more for the pan
1¾cups/225 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
2large oranges
1cup/200 grams plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½cup whole-milk yogurt
1¼teaspoons baking powder
¼teaspoon baking soda
¾teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
3large eggs
1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1½cups/170 grams cranberries, fresh or frozen but not thawed

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8½-inch by 4½-inch loaf pan.
Step 2
Finely grate the zest from the oranges into a large bowl. You should have 2 to 3 tablespoons of zest. Add 1 cup of the sugar. Using your fingers, grind the zest into the sugar until the sugar is completely orange and fragrant.
Step 3
Squeeze ½ cup of juice from the oranges into a 1-cup liquid measuring cup or a small bowl. Mix the yogurt into the orange juice and set aside.
Step 4
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Step 5
With an electric mixer on medium-high, beat the butter and the orange sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla extract.
Step 6
Add half of the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Beat in the yogurt mixture then the remaining flour mixture. Do not overmix.
Step 7
Fold in 1 cup of the cranberries. Transfer to the prepared pan. Top with the remaining ½ cup cranberries and spread the batter out evenly. If there are any exposed cranberries around the edges of the pan, gently press them into the batter. (They could burn.) Sprinkle the top of the loaf with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
Step 8
Bake until the loaf is golden brown and set and a skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 55 to 65 minutes.
Step 9
Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 10 minutes, then cut around the edges and carefully flip the loaf out of the pan. Turn it right side up and let it cool completely before slicing.

Ratings

5 out of 5

604 user ratings

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Comments

Chris1 year ago

"Prep Time 5 minutes" Really NYT? It takes me 5 minutes just to zest the oranges. Assuming you have all the ingredients and don't have to go out for oranges, prep time is more like 25 - 30 minutes. Still in the oven after 1hr 20min and center is still very moist. Not sure what I did wrong but seems to take a lot longer to bake than specified.

Jen1 year ago

I am surprised by all the negative reviews. I followed the recipe, and this was absolutely delicious. I think the magic in this recipe is taking the time to really work the orange zest into the cup of sugar. As I worked the zest into the bowl of sugar, it began to take on a fragrant and beautiful orange hue. I squeezed one of the oranges and used a borer to create a half-cup of pulpy orange juice which I added to a container of Fage 5% plain yogurt. I also used real cranberries. Yum

Sherri1 year ago

I'm noting that there are numerous complaints in the comments about the melted butter, the cooking time, the batter oozing over the pan, etc. And there's also a note that the recipe was updated November 6, 2023. Can you tell us what was in the update--how the recipe was changed?

Margaret Haig1 month ago

Definitely use a 9 by 5 pan. Although it’s kinda fun to rub the sugar and orange rind together by hand , it gets suitably orange and fragrant by running the Kitchenaid on low. I used frozen cranberries and cut them in half to distribute them throughout the loaf. Have made this three times now.

Nora4 months ago

Made this in a 9” round springform cake pan. Baked for 40 min. Used zest from three oranges. Otherwise followed the recipe. Delicious, and I didn’t have any overflowing or undercooked-center issues.

Nikki4 months ago

Made this into muffins! Same temp, came out to about 18 perfect delicious muffins. Also used tangerines instead of oranges - nice sour zing to complement the cranberry sourness. Love!

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