Almond Cranberry Cake is flavored with fresh cranberries and almond pasta and topped with an ultra rich mascarpone frosting. Perfect for the holidays!
Festive Holiday Dessert
Mini Almond Cranberry Bundt Cakes with Mascarpone Frosting are the perfect festive dessert for the holiday season. A hefty dose of almond paste gives these cakes an intense almond flavor and helps keep them moist. Chopped fresh cranberries not only add little bursts of tartness, but a gorgeous visual as well. The beautiful red color of cranberries just can’t be beat. They were absolutely made for Christmas.
Almond is my absolute favorite flavor for cake. We served almond pound cake at our wedding and this fabulous Almond Cake with Amaretto Frosting was my very first post on this blog. I find I can’t let a Christmas season go by without making some sort of almond cake. To me almond cake to be absolutely, positively heavenly.
Rich Mascarpone Frosting
A slightly sweet mascarpone frosting gives a beautiful and rich finishing touch to these cakes, but they are absolutely delicious with no frosting. I made individual cakes in a Bundtlette Pan
but you could also make 1 big Bundt cake. I made 6 mini-Bundts and used the remaining batter to make mini-muffins which were also delicious. The recipe I adapted supposedly yields 12 mini-Bundt cakes but to me it didn’t quite look like there was enough batter for 12. Ten is probably more like it.
Storage
Unfrosted cakes can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container. Frosted cakes should be stored in the refrigerator.
More Holiday Cakes
Almond Cranberry Cake with Mascarpone Frosting
Ingredients
- 6 3/4 oz (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour; more for pan
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened; more for pan
- 7 oz almond paste (about 2/3 cup), not marzipan
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk, at room temperature
- 1 cup fresh cranberries, rinsed and coarsely chopped
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Mascarpone Frosting
- 8 oz Mascarpone, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon Amaretto
- 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with an oven rack in the center.
- Butter and flour 10 mini Bundt pans or 1 large Bundt pan. Tap out excess flour.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and almond paste on medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Beat in eggs 1 at a time, stopping between each addition to scrape down sides of bowl.
- Beat in vanilla.
- Turn mixer to low speed and add in flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stop mixer halfway through to scrape down sides of bowl.
- Turn mixer to medium speed and beat until batter is smooth, about 20 seconds.
- Fold in cranberries.
- Spoon batter into prepared pans (or pan) and spread evenly with a rubber spatula.
- Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 20 minutes for small cakes and 40 to 50 minutes for large cake.
- Place pan on a rack to cool for 20 minutes. Invert pan onto rack to remove cakes.
- For frosting, using an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat mascarpone, heavy cream, and amaretto until combined and smooth.
- With mixer on low add in confectioners’ sugar then turn to medium-high until thickened. Place in a pastry bag and fill centers of cakes with frosting. If making a large cake, top each slice with a mound of frosting when serving.
- Dust with powdered sugar.
Notes
Frosting should be refrigerated until ready to serve.
Nutrition
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Recipe Source: adapted from Fine Cooking
Originally posted December 8, 2013.
Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link.
Love this at a cake. Has anyone come as cupcakes?
I love this recipe; the cakes are truly marvelous. Two problems I had: the cakes did not come out of their mini-bundt pans in one piece, and the frosting separated into butter. Any suggestions to avoid these problems?
These are gorgeous Christin! Cranberry and mascarpone frosting? I’m in cake heaven! Pinned. Have a great week my friend!
Thanks Anne! Hope you have a great week too!
What a perfectly festive cake!
These are gorgeous! I’m stopping by from Pinterest. I’m a new follower through Twitter & Facebook.
I love amaretto! Definitely going to have to try this frosting.
What a pretty little dessert…perfect for the holidays.
Gorgeous! These bundt cakes really were made for Christmas. Love the almond cranberry flavors and that frosting looks amazing!
I love almond-flavored stuff, though I’ve never worked with almond paste. I’d love to give it a go, and these lovely little cakes look like the perfect thing to being with! They are stunning, and your pictures and presentation are flawless!
I hope you have a great week 🙂
Thank you Consuelo! Give almond paste a try. It is so delicious!
I love working with almond paste. I make my own. I once made a cherry coffee cake with it and it was outstanding. I know I would love these little cakes too!
Oh my goodness! I never thought to make my own almond paste. That sounds amazing Laura!
Amazing!!! These are gorgeous!
I adore almond flavored things and the cranberries makes these so festive! They’re adorable 🙂
Christin, these cakes are lovely! I’ve never used almond paste, so I will have to give this a try. I just tried a cake with mascarpone frosting yesterday and it was amazing, so now I’m hooked.
Oh they sound perfect! Just a little taste of heaven they are defiantly just right for Christmas! 🙂
Oh, I love almond flavored cake too – it’s so good! These are gorgeous! I’ve always liked the way bundt pans make cakes look and then with the cranberries for the pops of color! Delicious!
These little cakes are picture perfect!! I LOVE almond paste! It’s sooo good and I bet these cakes are awesome.
These mini bundts are so adorable and pretty Christin. I love the almond and cranberry combination, just perfect and festive for this time of year and the mascarpone amaretto frosting sounds amazing 🙂
Beautiful mini bundts! Love the combination of the cranberry and almonds. By any change, you have any idea if the almond paste be made at home? Pinned!
These are so cute, and that frosting is practically screaming my name!
I am a HUGE fan of almond desserts and I hoard almond paste – seriously! So I adore your almond cakes here. They look beautiful – so festive – and I’m sure that almond flavor and moistness must be sensational. Not only do I wish I had a bundt pan, I wish I had mini ones. : )