Cranberry Lemon Bread with White Chocolate Frosting

This recipe was originally published in December 2020. It has since been updated with an improved recipe and new pictures.

This extra moist and rich cranberry lemon bread is based off of my popular blackberry lemon bread recipe!

The loaf cake is made in a food processor, where the sugar is blended with the lemon zest to create an even more lemony flavor.

I also love topping this cranberry loaf cake with homemade sugared cranberries. It is so easy to make these but makes your loaf cake a showstopper for Christmas!

Why you'll love this cranberry lemon bread!

• This cranberry bread is super moist thanks to the addition of sour cream!
• The sugar is put in the food processor with the lemon zest, this allows the oils of the lemon zest to be released. This is how you make lemon sugar, and will give you a sweet lemony bread, which pairs perfectly with the cranberries!
• You don't need to cream butter for this recipe as we're using melted butter.
• The cranberry loaf cake is topped with the best white chocolate cream cheese frosting!
• I'll show you how you can easily make homemade sugared cranberries.

Ingredients Needed

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• Cranberries: I used fresh cranberries as they're in season right now, but you can also use the same weight of frozen cranberries!
• Flour: I have only tested this recipe with all purpose flour.
• Sour Cream: this is going to make the loaf cake extra moist. You could swap it out for full fat yogurt if you prefer.
• Lemon Zest: the zest of one whole lemon is added into the batter to add even more tang, but you could sub this for orange zest
• White Chocolate: make sure the white chocolate you use has cocoa butter in it. I recommend melting it and letting it cool slightly before making the frosting!

Step by Step Process

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 340°Fahrenheit/170°Celsius. Cut your cranberries in half and toss with 1 tablespoon of flour in a small bowl. Set aside.

Step 2: Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl.

Step 3: In a food processor, blend together the lemon zest and sugars. Blend until the zest releases oil, giving the sugar a light yellow appearance.

Step 4: Add the eggs, melted butter, sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Turn the food processor on and blend.

Step 5: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, using a rubber spatula to fold everything together. Fold until there are no more streaks of flour. Stir in the cranberries.

Step 6: Pour the batter into a greased and lined 8.5x4.5 loaf pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 80-90 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out clean or just a few crumbs.

Step 7: while the loaf is baking, prepare your sugared cranberries! In a small saucepan, heat up sugar with water over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar has completely dissolved. Take the pan off the heat and add in your cranberries. Stir them so they're evenly covered in this sugar syrup. Use a slotted spoon to scoop them out and let them dry on parchment paper for 1 hour.

Step 8: After 1 hour, toss the cranberries in granulated sugar.

Step 9: In a large bowl with a handheld mixer, or in a stand mixer, combine the cream cheese with the sour cream and butter until smooth. Pour in the (cooled!) melted chocolate and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. This frosting isn't super firm so I suggest placing it in the fridge until ready to use.

Step 10: Once the loaf has completely cooled, top with the chilled frosting and sugared cranberries. Enjoy!

Baking Tips & Tricks

• Measuring – I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way. It makes a huge difference to your baking and is the most accurate way to bake!
• Fluff and Sprinkle Flour – if you aren’t weighing your ingredients and are using a measuring cup, then use the fluff and sprinkle method to measure your flour. Go to this link here to find out how to do that. It’s important to have the right amount of flour in this recipe as we don’t want a dry loaf.
• Chill the Frosting - this frosting is quite runny because it hasn't got any powdered sugar in it, so I recommend letting it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before placing on top of the loaf cake.
• Prepping the Cranberries - I suggest slicing up the cranberries into halves or quarters, depending on how large they are! Then toss them with a bit of flour. This is going to help them not sink to the bottom of the bread when they are baking.

Frequently Asked Questions