Cranberry Eggnog Coffee Cake

By Justine Doiron

Updated December 18, 2025

Andrew Bui for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Kaitlin Wayne.
Ready In
1½ hr, plus cooling
Rating
4(112)
Comments
Read comments

Around the holidays, there always seems to be a surplus of eggnog — and ditto cranberry sauce. Luckily, they make a stellar combination. This tender, moist coffee cake balances the cozy flavors of eggnog with the tartness of sharp cranberry sauce. Grating cold butter makes the crumble topping a breeze to put together. I love using Sarabeth’s jarred cranberry relish (if you can find it) for its bright, citrusy notes, but the canned kind or a homemade version are excellent, too. 

Watch Justine make this cake on YouTube here.

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Ingredients

Yield:12 to 16 servings

For the Crumble Topping

  • 1 ½ cups/210 grams all-purpose flour

  • 5 tablespoons/65 grams granulated sugar

  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) or ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt (such as Morton’s)

  • ½ cup/113 grams cold unsalted butter

For the Cake

  • ¾ cup/180 grams store-bought or homemade eggnog

  • ½ cup/105 grams plain Greek yogurt

  • 3 large eggs

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • ¾ cup/170 grams unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan

  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons/225 grams granulated sugar

  • 2 ¼ cups/315 grams all-purpose flour

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

  • 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) or ¾ teaspoon coarse kosher salt (such as Morton’s)

  • 1 cup/280 grams store-bought or homemade cranberry sauce or relish (see Tip)

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 to 16 servings)

73 grams carbs; 92 milligrams cholesterol; 484 calories; 5 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 19 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 337 milligrams sodium; 7 grams protein; 43 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 375 degrees. Lightly grease the bottom and corners of an 8-by 8-inch baking pan with butter and line with parchment paper, leaving some overhang on two sides.

  2. Step 2

    Make the crumble: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Use the large holes of a box grater to grate the cold butter into the bowl. Toss the butter to get every piece coated in flour. Press the mixture together with your fingers until a crumbly texture starts to form. When you can press a big piece of the mixture together and it holds a firm shape, it’s ready. Store in the fridge while you prepare the cake batter. 

  3. Step 3

    Make the batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggnog, yogurt, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth. Set aside.

  4. Step 4

    Using either a stand mixer or a hand mixer and a large bowl, beat together the softened butter and sugar until doubled in volume and a shade lighter in color, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides as needed. Adjust the mixer to low speed and add the eggnog mixture a few tablespoons at a time. The batter will start to look broken near the end, but don’t mind it.

  5. Step 5

    Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt to the bowl. Set the mixer to low and mix until a smooth batter forms. Scrape down the sides as needed.

  6. Step 6

    Pour two-thirds of the batter into the bottom of the baking pan. (For those of us who love precision, that’s 550 grams of batter.) Give the cranberry sauce a good mix to make it spreadable, then evenly spread it on top of the batter. Spread the remaining batter on top. Remove the crumble from the fridge and scatter it on top of the batter, sprinkling a thicker layer of crumble near the edges, which will give your cake a nice, even look after baking.

  7. Step 7

    Bake for 55 to 70 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted halfway into the cake comes out clean. (Don’t go deeper, or you risk it coming out covered in cranberry sauce.) After the first 30 minutes of baking, check on the cake occasionally; if the crumble is browning too fast, tent the cake with foil.

  8. Step 8

    Let cool for 30 to 45 minutes (the cake will sink a bit), then use the overhang to lift the cake from the pan. Slice and serve as you like. (The cake will keep at room temperature for 4 to 5 days, and can also be frozen for up to 6 months.) 

Tip

  • Stick to sweet cranberry sauces, preserves or relishes that are sweetened with sugar and include additions like orange zest, cinnamon or clove, such as Bonne Maman or Sarabeth’s. Ocean Spray canned cranberry sauce is also delicious. Of course, there’s always the option to make your own.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
112 user ratings
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Comments

Liz

How about an oatmeal streusel topping?

Faded elegance

How about using the cranberry curd from the terrific NYT cranberry tart instead of cranberry sauce?

Mary

Used a can of cranberry sauce and it turned out delightful!

Monika

I wanted to like this, but it wasn’t good. It came out looking exactly like the photo so I had high hopes! The crumble topping was bland. The cake itself was not very tasty. I couldn’t tell there was eggnog in it. Great ideas in this recipe but I ended up throwing it out.

Allison

The flavor and concept is solid, but the cake is dry. There was too much batter for an 8 x 8 pan, so I used a 9 x 9 pan, but there was still way too much crumble. I wonder if swapping out some of the butter for vegetable oil, making half the crumble, and cooking it at a slightly lower temperature would improve the recipe.

Randi

Did not turn out well - the crumble topping had WAY too much flour and the cake was really dry. Maybe someone else could figure out how to tweak it but do not go by the recipe as written. Had to pitch it and we did not have time to remake it.

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