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Disclosure: Nordic Ware sent me the free product (Nordic Ware Non-Stick Cast Aluminum Fleur De Lis Bundt Pan) to try out - I love my new bundt pan and will be describing my experience with this pan in this post. I was not compensated for this post other than receiving the bundt pan for free! All opinions are my own.
RECIPE: Delicious Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Cranberries, Apples, and Pecans! Buttermilk gives this holiday cake a softer texture and keeps the cake light and moist while adding a nice, subtle tang. The cake will melt in your mouth! Vanilla, cranberries, apples, and pecans give the bundt cake lots of holiday flavor and crunch!
This Cranberry Apple Pecan Bundt Cake is a perfect coffee cake for the Fall, Winter, and Holiday season! So good with coffee or a cup of tea! It's very easy to make and looks pretty and sophisticated with minimal effort.
That's the beauty of using a beautiful bundt pan - it makes all cakes pretty! I've used the bundt pan that measures 9 inches in diameter and holds 10 to 12 cups - use any bundt pan of this size and volume!
The particular bundt pan I used was Nordic Ware Non-Stick Cast Aluminum Fleur De Lis Bundt Pan (which was sent to me for free by Nordic Ware - see the disclosure above). I was very pleased with this pan and will describe my experience with it and the tips on how to successfully release the bundt cake from the pan later in this post. Take a look how pretty this bundt pan is:
Apples and bundt cakes go really well together. I've made apple bundt cakes before and they were all successful, such as this Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Bundt Cake or Apple Pumpkin Bundt Cake. All these cakes are great recipes to use for your holiday menu, for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's Eve.
How to make apple cranberry pecan bundt cake
First, make the cake batter. Then, add the dried cranberries (previously soaked in hot water and drained), chopped apple, and chopped pecans to the cake batter:
Fold all the fruit and pecans into the cake batter using the spatula. Your cake batter is ready to be poured into the bundt pan!
And, here are my tips on how to best use this (or any) bundt pan to ensure the successful release of the cake. It starts before you even bake the cake. Even though this bundt pan says it's non-stick, ALWAYS USE THE BAKING SPRAY WITH FLOUR (it's a special baking spray that already has flour in the spray itself). The proper way to do it is to hold the spray vertically and spray your clean and dried bundt pan along the top edges of the pan, going all the way to the bottom. Keep in mind that a bundt pan with such fine detail as this Nordic Ware Fleur De Lis Bundt Pan, does have a lot of detail, so make sure to spray all of the pan insides, not missing anything! Then, pour the cake batter gently into the prepared bundt pan:
Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven, and put the bundt pan on top of the baking sheet. This ensures that if you have a bundt pan with edges like mine, the pan doesn't slant. Bake at 350 F for about 1 hour, until the toothpick comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven, let it cool for 40 minutes on a wire rack in the pan:
How to remove a bundt cake from the pan
Here is how to make sure the cake releases from the bundt pan without any cake disaster:
- First of all, let me repeat, you should always use the Baking Spray with Flour and generously spray it all over inside your bundt pan before pouring the cake batter.
- After your bundt cake is done baking, and the bundt pan with the cake cooled off for 40 minutes on the counter, place the bundt pan in the freezer for 20 minutes - it will still be quite hot to the touch (even after 40 minutes of cooling), so use kitchen gloves to handle the pan.
- Remove the pan from the freezer after 20 minutes, invert the bundt pan onto a serving plate, and let it sit inverted for a bit to let the gravity do the work (it could take as little as half a minute or as long as 20 or even 30 minutes, depending on your bundt pan). Here is my bundt pan sitting inverted with the cake inside:
- With this pan, it took at least 20 minutes for the bundt pan to sit inverted like that and then release the cake (also, remember that before even inverting the pan, I cooled off the pan with the cake in it for 40 minutes on the rack, and then put the pan with the cake for 15 minutes in the freezer). I actually heard the sound of the cake being released.
- Be patient - gently lift the bundt pan to check and if your cake is not released, let it sit longer until it releases.
- My cake was released from this bundt pan beautifully, there was only one small piece of cake that got stuck in the bundt pan - I gently removed it and stuck it back on the cake where it belongs! 🙂 You can't even see this minor imperfection on the photos:
I love-love this bundt pan, the cake looks like it came from a high-end bakery, with minimal effort on my side. With proper handling and patience, the cake will release beautifully!
If you ever had trouble with removing your bundt cake from the pan, read and re-read this post - it has all the tips you need to make sure you have success with your bundt pan this holiday season!
Apple Cranberry Pecan Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature softened
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar or cane sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 Fuji apple cored, peeled, and cubed
- 1 cup pecans chopped
- powdered sugar for decorating
Instructions
- Special equipment: Use the bundt pan that measures 9 inches in diameter and holds 10 to 12 cups.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Soak 1 cup of dried cranberries in 1 cup of boiling-hot water, covered.
How to make cake batter:
- In a medium bowl, combine 2 and ½ cups flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a separate large bowl, add together the softened butter and sugar and mix, using mixer, on high setting for about 3 minutes until even consistency is reached.
- Add 3 eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to the butter-sugar mixture and continue beating until well-incorporated and light in color.
- Now we’ll be adding flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture in 3 gradual steps, instead of dumping all of flour at one time. If you dump all of flour mixture into your butter mixture at one time, it will be more difficult to stir and you won’t get a smooth texture. So, we’ll be adding flour and buttermilk in 3 additions:
- With your mixer on low speed, add ⅓ of flour mixture to butter-sugar mixture, beating just a little until all is well combined. Then follow by ⅓ cup of buttermilk. Add the second ⅓ of flour mixture, beating with mixer just to combine. Follow by the second ⅓ cup of buttermilk, beating just to combine. Finally, add the third ⅓ of flour mixture, followed by the final ⅓ cup of buttermilk. Again, beat just enough to combine.
- Make sure to have your mixer on low speed while adding flour, otherwise flour might fly around your kitchen. Make sure to not overmix or overbeat, use mixer just to combine the ingredients.
- Drain the dried cranberries that you soaked in hot water and wring the water out of them. Dried cranberries now should be plump and juicy - it's OK if they retain some water.
- Using spatula, fold in these dried cranberries (after you soaked them and drained them), chopped apple, and chopped pecans into the cake batter.
How to fill bundt pan with cake batter:
- Spray your bundt cake pan with a Baking Spray with Flour (it's a special spray that already has flour in it). The proper way to do it is to hold the spray vertically, and spray your clean and dried bundt pan along the top edges of the pan, going all the way to the bottom. Spray every single little detail, especially if your bundt pan has lots of fine detail.
- Pour batter gently into prepared bundt pan. Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven, and put the bundt pan on top. This ensures that if you have a bundt pan with edges like mine, the pan doesn't slant.
How to bake bundt cake:
- Bake at 350 F for about 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clear. Remove the pan from the oven, let it cool for 40 minutes on wire rack.
Tips on releasing the cake from the bundt pan:
- First of all, you should always use the Baking Spray with Flour and generously spray it all over inside your bundt pan before pouring the batter.
- After your bundt cake is done baking, and the bundt pan cooled off for 40 minutes on the counter, place the bundt pan in the freezer for 20 minutes - it will still be quite hot to the touch (even after 40 minutes of cooling), so use kitchen gloves to handle the pan.
- Remove the pan from the freezer after 20 minutes, invert the bundt pan onto a serving plate, and let it sit inverted for a bit to let the gravity do the work (it could take as little as half a minute or as long as 20 or even 30 minutes, depending on your bundt pan). Then, gently lift bundt pan and your cake should be released. Sometimes, you will actually hear your cake release. Be patient.
- Sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar before serving.
Notes
Looking for a complete THANKSGIVING MENU?
- Be sure to check out my 50 Best Thanksgiving Recipes (The Complete Holiday Menu) - it includes everything: Fall-inspired holiday appetizers, side dishes, salads, main courses, pasta recipes, desserts, and even breakfast. This holiday menu features proven, tried, and true Thanksgiving dishes that have been reader favorites for years (I've been publishing recipes since 2012). Most of these recipes can also be re-purposed for Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Looking for THANKSGIVING SIDE DISHES?
- I have created a comprehensive recipe collection of 60 Thanksgiving side dishes conveniently categorized by ingredient: Green Beans, Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, Potatoes, Acorn Squash, Spaghetti Squash, Asparagus, Broccoli, etc. It's a great resource to browse through for a last moment holiday inspiration! This side dishes will also work great for Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Looking for THANKSGIVING salads?
- I have created a comprehensive recipe collection of 30 Thanksgiving salads - this collection exclusively features Thanksgiving salads that highlight Autumnal ingredients, such as apples, roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes, beets, Brussels sprouts, green beans, pecans, cranberries, pears, pomegranates, mandarin oranges, pumpkin seeds, and the list goes on and on! These Fall salads will add freshness, colors, and vibrancy to otherwise heavy and creamy comfort food (stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes) that we often cook for the holidays. These salads would also be perfect for Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Disclosure: Nordic Ware sent me the free product (Nordic Ware Non-Stick Cast Aluminum Fleur De Lis Bundt Pan) to try out - I love my new bundt pan and will be describing my experience with this pan in this post. I was not compensated for this post other than receiving the bundt pan for free! All opinions are my own.
I have made this cake twice before and LOVED it. Wondering if it can be made into muffins? And what the baking time would be? Iwant to give them out for Christmas!
I am glad you liked this cake and made it twice! This cake can definitely be turned into muffins. Bake the muffins in the preheated oven at 350 F for about 20 or 30 minutes. Check the doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin - it should come out clean if the muffin is done.
I have made this cake twice and love it! Just wondering if you know if it can be made into muffins? And what the baking time would be? I want to give them as gifts for Christmas!
Can I use fresh cranberries?
You can use fresh cranberries if you like. Just remember that fresh cranberries are tart so you might have to use more sugar to compensate.
Can I use salted butter and skip salt in the recipe?
Yes.
Thank you for this version of juicy buttermilk cake. Kids love it and I will make it again.
So glad you enjoyed the cake! 🙂
I have the classic Nordicware bundt pan, and use of non-stick sprays is not recommended. I just butter my pan, making sure to get into all nooks and crannies, and then dust the pan with one of the following, depending on the cake: fine crumbs of any kind (bread, corn flakes, graham crackers), flour, or cocoa powder. After baking, I cool the cake 10-20 minutes in the pan and then invert the pan on a plate. Cake pops out with few to no issues. I think what's most important is that every inch of the pan surface is greased and then coated with a dry substance. Happy baking!
Those are great tips! Thank you so much for leaving such a detailed and useful comment! I really appreciate it!
Oh I have this exact pan! Will be baking this tonight
Enjoy! 🙂
Made this yesterday, was perfect. Easy to make, delicious and came out of the pan no problems. Thank you so much for the tasty recipe!
This is a delicious cake. I added a little sherry to the soaking raisins to add a little festive cheer. Yummy.
I have a bunt pan that makes 6 individual cakes at once. Any guess on how long I should try and bake the cake for?
Made the cake didn't have pecans so I used walnuts. It was superb; we loved it it was not too sweet just perfect. It's going on my favourite recipe folder. Thank you for sharing. Candy
Thank you so much, Candy! I am glad you enjoyed the cake! 🙂
Made this cake this morning for Thanksgiving dinner. I followed the recipe as written and it is fantastic! Your tips for releasing the cake from the pan worked like a charm. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I will be making it again and again.
Thank you, Tina! I am so happy you enjoyed this recipe and that the tips for releasing the cake from the bundt pan were useful. 🙂
Looks beautiful ! Can I use fresh cranberries?
Thank you
I haven't tried it with fresh cranberries. Fresh cranberries are not as sweet as dried ones, and they have a different texture, so the cake might turn out quite different from this one. 🙂
Have not tried yet, but I love to make without the ready made cake mix
. batter. Got the making today and waiting for wife to go to work so I can try it out alone to make my own mess in the kitchen!! Lol! Such good directions don't see how mess up too bad. Ha! Ha!
Thank you! Enjoy!
I generally do not comment on recipes. Just finished the cake and I thought I would have to wait 20 minutes for it to release from the pan....well it took 2 seconds. I usually have
to fight my bundt pan, but I followed your directions! to fight my bundt pan, but I followed your directions! Awesome, just has a couple of small spots that stuck, but I will try this method again in the future. The pan you show on your pictures is beautiful. I would like to have one, but I've always been afraid that the cake wouldn't come out. Can't wait to try the cake. Taking it to friends tomorrow! Thank you again for posting this cake..
Thank you, Renate, for such a thoughtful and funny comment! Yes, "fighting" the bundt pan is the good way to describe what it takes sometimes to release the cake! I am glad you found my directions useful. 🙂