Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake (with leftover cranberry sauce)

I always have leftover cranberry sauce. I love it and so does my daughter. But the rest of my family, well, not so much. But once the turkey is gone, I really don't have a lot of interest in eating it. That is unless I reinvent it as a leftover. That's why I made it into this delicious Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake!

This leftover cranberry sauce coffee cake is made with pecans, sour cream, a delicious vanilla coffee glaze, and sparkly candied cranberries for the perfect showstopping holiday dessert! It makes a beautiful centerpiece for your holiday brunch or dinner whether it's Thanksgiving or Christmas. And the best part is that you get to use up leftover cranberry sauce! It was inspired by my Rhubarb coffee cake and my Butter tart Bundt Cake. It pairs perfectly with my Healthy Leftover Turkey Wraps!

🥘 Ingredient Notes

Coffee cake is any cake flavored with or intended to be eaten with coffee. Although there isn't coffee in it, this Cranberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake boasts a delicious vanilla coffee glaze! 

For this recipe you'll need:

Cranberry Coffee Cake:

This cranberry-swirled coffee cake has streusel baked in, instead of on top!

• Cranberry sauce: whether you make cranberry sauce from scratch or buy it in a can (whole cranberry sauce or jellied) it will work in this recipe!
• Flour. I use all-purpose flour - it's the base of this recipe.
• Baking soda and Baking powder. These are leavening agents and when mixed with the sour cream, help the cake rise.
• Salt. Salt balances the sweetness.
• White Granulated Sugar and Brown Sugar. You will need both sugars for this recipe. White sugar is the sweetener for the cake and brown sugar is part of the baked in streusel.
• Butter. Butter adds a rich flavor and creates a tender crumb in baked goods. I prefer to use unsalted butter in my baking so I can control the salt.
• Vanilla extract. Adds flavor.
• Eggs. Eggs are the binder in this recipe and add texture, flavor, and structure.
• Sour cream. Sour cream adds richness and a slight tanginess (also counteracting the sweetness of this cake).
• Chopped pecans. Give this cake texture and a nice crunch!

Glaze:

This coffee glaze is the PERFECT accompaniment to the tart cranberry coffee cake.

• Cream. I use cream rather than milk because I wanted this coffee cake to have a thicker glaze * I use table cream
• Powdered sugar. Powdered sugar is also known as icing sugar or confectioners sugar.
• Brewed vanilla coffee. Vanilla coffee adds a special flavor to this coffee glaze. * Add a drop (¼ tsp) of vanilla extract to regular coffee if you don't have vanilla coffee

Candied Cranberries:

These sparkling sugared cranberries are the crowning glory of this coffee cake.

• Frozen cranberries. I use frozen cranberries because it's not easy to find fresh cranberries, frozen last longer (up to 12 months if stored properly) and they are economical. Make sure you take them out in time to defrost them!
• Sugar and water. When combined and heated, sugar and water make the syrup that coats and 'candies' the cranberries, making it easier for the sugar to stick to them.

*See printable recipe card for quantities

📖 Variations and Substitutions

• Cranberry Sauce - you can use homemade cranberry sauce or canned cranberry sauce. If you opt for canned, you can also use whole cranberry sauce or jellied cranberry sauce.
• Pecans  - You can substitute almonds or walnuts.
• Sour cream- you can use regular, light, or fat-free. You could also substitute plain Greek yogurt.
• Pecans - you can substitute slivered almonds
• Cranberries - you can use fresh cranberries for the sugared cranberries

How to Make Leftover Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake

1. Preheat to 350 and spray a fluted, tube pan or bundt pan (*I use a bundt pan) with non stick cooking spray. Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat sugar, butter and vanilla with an electric hand mixer, until creamy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in flour and sour cream into the egg/sugar/butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating until just blended. Combine pecans and brown sugar separately in small bowl and set aside. Evenly spread half the batter in prepared bundt pan.
2. Add half of the cranberry sauce, by the teaspoonful, spread out over batter.
3. Sprinkle with half of the brown sugar/nut mixture.
4. Top with remaining cake batter.
5. Then add remaining cranberry sauce.
6. Use a knife to swirl in cranberry sauce. You'll want to cut in deeply and swirl to reach the bottom layer. Don't swirl too much or you'll end up with a pink cake!
7. Add remaining pecans/brown sugar mixture to the top of the cake.
8. Bake for 55- 60 minutes until cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. Cool cake for 10 minutes. Gently loosen sides of cake pan with knife and turn onto serving surface. Glaze and garnish with candied cranberries.

*See recipe card for full instructions

🔪How to make Candied Cranberries

I love to serve this cake with candied (aka sugared) cranberries. They are easy to make, sparkly, festive and the perfect finishing touch on this Cranberry Coffee Cake! 

1. Combine ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil. Stir in cranberries and stir to coat all cranberries. Use a slotted spoon and transfer cranberries to a wire rack. Let cranberries dry for about 30 minutes
2. Roll cranberries in remaining sugar until completely coated
3. Return to rack to continue drying for another 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
4. Garnish Cranberry Coffee Cake with candied cranberries (sugared cranberries)

🌡️Storing 

If you celebrate U.S. Thanksgiving you can make this Leftover Cranberry Sauce Cake in November, you can simply can wrap it and freeze it until Christmas Dinner! It freezes really well (*See TOP TIP below) However, it's best if you wait to glaze it and make the sugared cranberries just prior to serving.

This festive-looking Cranberry Christmas Cake is the ideal holiday cake for your Christmas dinner or Christmas brunch! And hey, there's no reason you couldn't have it for breakfast or brunch on Christmas morning as well.

It's meant to be eaten with coffee, after all! Although you can make it with your leftover cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving and freeze it, if you know you won't use all the cranberry sauce for dinner (like me)  you can go ahead and make it before it even becomes a leftover.