Fall is a wonderful time to make desserts with ingredients that are only fresh this time of year. Cranberries and apples are perfectly ripe and so very tasty in season. Don’t you just love them?
This Cranberry, Apple and Walnut Cake makes good use of Fall’s bounty. It is full of fruit and bursting with flavor (the cranberries add a nice tang which is balanced by the sweetness of apples).
Using real food ingredients, this recipe provides a treat that is relatively healthy and nutritious. Serve alone or with a dollop of cream.
Cranberry, Apple and Walnut Cake Recipe
This recipe has been adapted from the CranApple Walnut cake in the Moosewood Cookbook .
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups sucanat
- ½ cup oil (I use melted coconut oil or safflower oil)
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour (or a combination of the two)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups diced apples
- ½ cup walnut pieces
- ½ pound fresh or frozen whole, raw cranberries
Instructions
- Beat the oil and sucanat together until creamy.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined.
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl then sift into the wet ingredients. Stir until well combined.
- Add the apples, cranberries, and nuts and stir to distribute evenly.
- At this point it seems there is more fruit than batter, and there might be! Don’t worry, it will work out in the end.
- Transfer the fruited batter into a well-greased, 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Press the batter into place so it is spread fairly evenly.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes.
- Allow to cool before slicing.
Courses Desserts and Sweets
I love the rustic look of this cake! It has such a warm, cozy, homemade feel.
Check out my favorite real food desserts eBooks–Treat Yourself: Real Food Desserts and Smart Sweets!
What are you favorite desserts to make with Fall produce?
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Oh this looks delicious! Thank you so much; I’ll definitely try this soon! 🙂
This looks SO GOOD. I wonder if you could make cupcakes/muffins out of this and make it a breakfast item…
@Susan Alexander, I’m not sure that it would make very good muffins. There’s just so much fruit and not much batter.
It might be something you could work with. Like adding the fruit, nut, and spices to a basic muffin recipe. Actually, I might have to try that now . . .
Sounds yummy! I will make this today.
@Adi, I hope you like it!
Lovely, Stacy! My list of fall desserts that I want to try is growing rather large 😉 but I will definitely have to make room for this one. Looks absolutely perfect!
Oh that looks really good! Would have been simple to make if I’d actually gotten a walnut harvest this year but that’s a no-go. We will have lots of apples though 🙂
Me, I have to say my all-time favorite Autumn baking love would be pumpkin bread. I don’t like pumpkin pie, but I adore pumpkin bread and I buy quite a few cooking pumpkins each year to make puree so I’ll have plenty to use over the winter. Sitting with a cup of hot coffee with a couple slices of warm buttered pumpkin bread is one of my ideas of heaven 🙂 Hmm… I think I might need to get some pumpkins this weekend! lol
I made this tonight, and it was delicious! Neither my husband nor I like cakes, but this is different because of all the fruit. The tart cranberries keep it from being a boring apple-cinammon cake. The walnuts add crunch. The fruit keeps it juicy. Adding it to the keeper list.
@Joy, Yay! That is great.
My husband and I are not cake fans either. This is definitely different from the average cake.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Literally drooling over these pictures. I’m making this the first chance I get. Thanks for sharing…and the pics are amazing.
@Natalie,
OK…I made it tonight and HAD to come back and say that this was, by far, one of the most delicious cakes/comfort food/desserts I have ever tasted. Amazing. If you haven’t tried this yet…do it. I’m making this for our next small group gathering. So easy too. I think I died and went to heaven…
@Natalie, Awesome! Glad you liked it so much. Thanks for letting us know 🙂
Would this work with soaked flour?
@Demi, I’ve never tried it with soaked flour, so I’m not sure. It might. Sorry I can’t be more helpful.
This sounds great! I can’t wait to try it as soon as I get my hands on some cranberries.
Oh, YUM!! I really really want to make some of these! I can’t wait to try them. Yum, yum, yum, I love fall!
You keep surprising me with your seasonal delicious recipes. keep it going you make people life sweeter!!
This is such a hearth warming cake, I can’t wait to try this recipe. Maybe I’ll use 1/4 c of almonds and 1/4 c walnuts.
Do you know the nutritional values of this cake?
For those of you that haven’t tried it yet…..it is soooo good. I have made several now and given SOME to my neighbors. Everyone loves it.
@Kathy Veliz, We don’t usually try to figure out nutritional values on our recipes here. The main reason is that my nutritional beliefs lie more along the lines of focusing on eating real foods, made with whole, high-quality nutrients, and listening to our bodies with common sense and moderation. When I focus on eating that way, I don’t really feel like I need to know the exact nutrient or caloric breakdown, if that makes sense. 🙂 But, I think that there might be online sites where you can input recipes and get a nutritional values output, if you wanted to try something like that.
just put mine in the oven. Can’t wait for it to come out!!! 😛
so, there is 1/6 of the pan left. Even my son who doesn’t care for healthy desserts that much ate 2 pieces. I love it!!! will make it again. 🙂
Thank you for this recipe!! I actually just finished making this for my son’s first birthday,which is today. I know it isn’t fall, but I had some cranberries in my freezer, and wanted to make something healthier for him. I was wondering if you turned it out of the pan, or just served it from the pan? I am thinking it probably wounldn’t stay together if I tried to get it out, although I did grease the pan well. It is so pretty, and smells amazing! I can’t wait to see his little face when he tries it. Thanks again, love your blog!! 😀
Okay, I went ahead and turned it out of the pan, and I don’t recommend it. It did stick a little in one corner, and it was much prettier the other way. 🙂
I would have loved to been able to participate in your free drawing of “Keeper of the Home”. I repeatidly kept getting kicked off the page whenever I tried to leave my comment. I am a nurse of 23 years. The past 8 years I have worked as a Hospice RN with little time for planning and cooking healthy meals. I search for easy and nutritious (comfort food) recipes to fix for Dave and I while we are both working our 10 – 12 hour shifts each week. I love your recipe for apple, cranberry, walnut cake. It is not only vary healthy however very fulfilling and meets my comfort food needs as well during those long work weeks. Thank you.