Easy and delicious cranberry orange bread is packed with orange zest and cranberries and drizzled with an orange cream cheese icing.
Orange Cranberry Bread Ingredients
All-Purpose Flour: Spoon and level the flour when measuring it, otherwise you’ll wind up with dense bread instead of soft and fluffy.
Sugar: I use a mix of brown and white sugars to sweeten this bread.
Baking Powder & Soda: Helps the bread rise in the oven. Make sure to test for effectiveness of both before using if you’ve had them in your pantry longer than 6 months.
Eggs: Bring to room temperature before baking with eggs if possible. They mix better and the batter will rise better.
Buttermilk: The acid in buttermilk helps the baking soda do its job. You can substitute with regular milk and a tbsp of lemon juice instead if you don’t have any buttermilk.
Butter: I recommend unsalted butter when baking as the salt content in butter can vary. You can also use oil instead of butter in this recipe at a 1:1 ratio.
Orange Extract: Orange extract adds an extra punch of orange flavour to this tangy bread.
Orange Zest: Orange zest brings all the tang to the yard.
Cinnamon: Adds a bit of that seasonal spice to the base bread and complements the sweet and tangy fruit flavours wonderfully.
Orange Segments: Experiment with the type of orange. Navel oranges, Valencia oranges, blood oranges, and mandarin oranges all bake well.
Cranberries: We use dried cranberries but fresh or frozen cranberries will also work. If using frozen cranberries, do not thaw.
How to Make Cranberry Orange Quick Bread
- Make the batter. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Combine them together. Fold in your mix ins.
- Pour into a prepared loaf pan.
- Bake. This bread can take anywhere from 50 minutes to over an hour in the oven. I have specified 50 minutes in the recipe as that is around when you should start testing your bread. All ovens are different so the time needed can vary greatly.
- Make the icing. Then drizzle over your cooled bread.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Can you Freeze Quick Bread?
Yes! You can freeze the bread for up to 3 months, with or without icing.
Allow the bread to thaw out overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.
Looking for more easy quick bread recipes?
Check out some of my favourite recipes for quick bread:
Starbucks Copycat Banana Nut Bread
Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Bread
Cranberry Orange Bread
Makes 2 8×4 loaves | Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time: 50 mins
Ingredients:
2¾ c all-purpose flour
1 c light brown sugar (packed)
⅔ c granulated sugar
2½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp cinnamon
2 lg eggs (room temperature)
1 c buttermilk
8 tbsp butter (melted)
¾ tsp orange extract
1½ tbsp orange zest
1½ c dried cranberries (chopped fine)
1 c orange segments (chopped)
For the Icing
4 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 c powdered sugar
2 tbsp half and half (can use milk if you like)
¼ tsp orange extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Grease or spray with a non-stick spray, either 2- 8×4-inch loaf pans or 1- 9×5-inch loaf pan. You may have a bit left over with the 9×5-inch. You can bake this in a mini loaf pan if you like.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown and white sugars, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
Whisk in the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, orange zest and orange extract just until combined. Do not overmix.
Fold in the dried cranberries and orange segments.
Pour into loaf pans and bake on center rack of the oven for approx. 50 min. or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
If the brown reaches that perfect golden brown before the center is baked through, simply cover the loaf with some foil then continue baking.
Cool in pans for approx. 10-min, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
For the Icing
Using an electric mixer, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar half and half and orange extract until smooth and creamy.
If too thick, add in more half and half until it is a drizzle consistency.
Drizzle over top of cooled loaf using a fork or spoon.
Serve & Enjoy!
Cranberry Orange Bread
Ingredients
- 2¾ c all-purpose flour
- 1 c light brown sugar, packed
- ⅔ c granulated sugar
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 2 lg eggs, room temperature
- 1 c buttermilk
- 8 tbsp butter, melted
- ¾ tsp orange extract
- 1½ tbsp orange zest
- 1½ c dried cranberries, chopped fine
- 1 c orange segments, chopped
- Icing
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 c powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp half and half, can use milk if you like
- ¼ tsp orange extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Grease or spray with a non-stick spray, either 2- 8x4-inch loaf pans or 1- 9x5-inch loaf pan. You may have a bit left over with the 9x5-inch. You can bake this in a mini loaf pan if you like.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown and white sugars, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
- Whisk in the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, orange zest and orange extract just until combined. Do not overmix.
- Fold in the dried cranberries and orange segments.
- Pour into loaf pans and bake on center rack of the oven for approx. 50 min. or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in pans for approx. 10-min. then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- If the brown reaches that perfect golden brown before the center is baked through, simply cover the loaf with some foil then continue baking.
- Icing
- Using an electric mixer, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar half and half and orange extract until smooth and creamy. If too thick, add in more half and half until it is a drizzle consistency. Drizzle over top of cooled loaf using a fork or spoon.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Liz Lampman is a coffee-fuelled Mom of 2 girls and lives in Hamilton, Ontario. She enjoys cooking and baking, food photography, and reading.