This Cranberry Pecan Coffee Cake is filled with pops of sweet cranberries, a hint of orange, and topped with a cinnamon sugar pecan crumble. Its a few favorite Holiday flavors mixed together, in one easy breakfast that can be made ahead of time.
Did you know that “coffee cake” doesn’t typically have coffee in it?
Weird, right?
A quick google search will tell you that coffee cake is any cake that’s made to be eaten with coffee.
I mean, it’s weird but… no complaints here! Cake for breakfast? Honestly, my favorite breakfast is a muffin. BUT, coffee cake is a fun breakfast treat or a great dish for brunch.
This Cranberry Pecan Coffee Cake is my latest holiday-inspired breakfast creation. It’s perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
The cake itself is lightly sweet, and made healthier with applesauce. It has pops of cranberries throughout and a touch of orange flavor. The BEST part is the pecan crumble on top. It’s sweet, crunchy, nutty… it’s really the best.
With the Holidays in mind, this simple coffee cake can easily be made the day before. Instead of preheating your oven, spend time with your family!
Make this coffee cake a day ahead so Christmas morning you won’t have to worry about a thing. Except maybe trying to stay out of the coffee cake right after you make it 😉
Let’s talk ingredients:
This Cranberry Pecan Coffee Cake is made a little healthier than other coffee cake recipes. In total, the whole pan only has 1/2 cup of butter and 1 1/4 cups of sugar. Still quite a bit, but for coffee cake that’s really limited.
It’s meant to be a treat, but not one that leaves you in a sugar coma! Which is what makes it a great Holiday breakfast.
This coffee cake can easily be made gluten-free with a gluten-free all purpose flour blend.
You can also make it dairy-free with either coconut oil or a dairy-free butter alternative, and almond milk (or your favorite dairy-free milk).
To sweeten the cake, I recommend using brown sugar. If you prefer, you can use coconut sugar instead. To sweeten the crumble, white sugar is your best bet for crunchy crumble chunks. You could use coconut sugar, but the crumble may be a bit more wet, resulting in less crunchy chunks.
Applesauce is also used in the cake to keep it moist and add a touch of sweetness. If you don’t have applesauce, you can use mashed banana instead. Don’t replace the applesauce with sugar though. The applesauce in this recipe is a replacement for some of the butter in the cake.
And the star of the show? Fresh cranberries. You can either use whole or chop them up into smaller pieces. Whatever you prefer.
TIP: If you washed your cranberries beforehand, be sure to dry them off prior to adding them to your batter.
Making the cake:
The cake itself is a very classic and simple recipe.
You’ll cream together your butter and brown sugar. Add your applesauce and beat it into the mixture. Add your egg and milk and lightly blend it in. Then, to the same bowl, add your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt). Whisk them in on top, then whisk all of your ingredients together to form the cake batter.
Last, add your cranberries and orange zest and gently fold them in.
Spread the batter into your 9×9 cake pan.
Now the yummy pecan crumble topping!
To a small bowl, add your butter and sugar and mix together till creamy. Add your flour and cinnamon and mix together again. Then, add your pecans and stir together one more time.
Sprinkle the pecan crumble topping across the top of the cake batter.
Place in the oven (350 for 45-50 minutes). Ta-da! Cranberry Pecan Coffee Cake. My favorite part about this coffee cake in particular is seeing the pops of cranberries peeking out the top after it bakes. Yum.
If you’re looking for an easy, special Holiday breakfast, I hope this one works for you and your family! My 3 year old LOVES coffee cake, and could eat this one every day – ha! 🙂
And if you make it, let me know how it went. I love to see what ya’ll make. Either leave a comment below, or tag me in a picture on Instagram.
And if you love coffee cake, check out my Banana Coffee Cake, Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake, or my Pumpkin Coffee Cake too!
- 1/4 cup butter, softened (coconut oil or dairy-free butter alternative)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1/2 cup applesauce (sweetened or unsweetened)
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup milk of choice (skim, 2%, whole or almond)
- 2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour (or regular flour)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries (whole or chopped)
- zest of 1 orange (optional)
- 1/4 cup butter, softened (coconut oil or dairy-free butter alternative)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup gluten-free all purpose flour (or regular flour)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 cup pecans, finely chopped
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To begin, preheat your oven to 350 and line a 9×9 pan with parchment paper (or spray with non-stick spray).
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To a large mixing bowl, add your butter and brown sugar and beat them together with a mixer till creamy. Add your applesauce and mix together till well combined. Add your egg. While mixing, slowly add your milk.
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To the same bowl, add your flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir together till well combined, forming a thick cake batter. Add your cranberries and orange zest and fold them in.
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Pour your batter into your pan and spread into one even layer across the pan.
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To a small bowl, add your butter and sugar and mix together till creamy. Add your flour and cinnamon and stir till combined, resulting in a crumbly mixture. Add your pecans and thoroughly mix them in.
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Sprinkle your topping mixture across the top of your coffee cake batter in your pan, evenly covering the top.
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Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
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Let cool entirely, then slice, serve, and devour!
Stored in an airtight container in the fridge this coffee cake lasts about a week.
My son’s girlfriend has a gluten intolerance and I’m always leery of gf baked goods but this coffee cake is the bomb diggity! I did take it one set further and squeezed half of that orange into some powdered sugar and a splash of milk for a drizzle. Definitely a keeper!
Can’t wait to make this! I love cranberries!
Will frozen cranberries be used? Do I need to defrost them before using?
Hi Sue. I haven’t made this before with frozen cranberries but I think they would work just fine, you may need to toss them in a little flour first and bake the coffee cake longer though.
can you use dried cranberries
Hi Gail. I would not recommend dried cranberries, I think the texture would be off.
Could I use oat milk instead of almond milk? And if so, should I do vanilla or original? Thank you!
Hi Hannah. I think oat milk should work just fine. You can use vanilla or original, but if you use vanilla then you may want to use a little less vanilla extract.
Lovely recipe! Thank you for sharing. I made this recently and love the tart cranberry flavor. I did add the orange zest and highly recommend adding it. As I’m allergic to cream of tarter, which is in baking powder, I used 1-1/2 t. soda with 1/4 t. citric acid powder. My GF flour mix includes xantham gum, which helps with the absence of the bp. It raised perfectly! When I make again, I may add 1/2 c. more cranberries as I like their tart flavor!:)
Hi! I was wondering if you thought it would work to double the recipe and put it in a 9×13? Thanks!
Hi Lindsey. I haven’t tried that before, but I would recommend trying 1 1/2 recipe in a 9×13 pan instead (I think doubling it would be too much, this coffee cake in particular is already pretty thick). I hope this helps!