Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed Banana Bundt Cake
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
As a lover of banana bread, this has got to be one of the moistest cakes, because it takes the best of banana bread, is filled with cream cheese and gets a seasonal flavor boost from the wonderful tart and tangy cranberry. Win, win!
There is nothing better than something fresh from the oven, the house permeated with a tempting aroma of what’s to come. This Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed Banana Bundt Cake is just that and then some.
I fell in love with the cream cheese stuffed idea after seeing a coffee cake post from Jen over at Carlsbad Cravings. I just wanted to take it a step further by adding one of my favorite fruits, and since it’s the season, cranberries. The batter for the banana cake is superb. I substituted her suggested sour cream for some Greek yogurt and opted against a streusel topping and added a drizzle of white chocolate with dried cranberries and walnuts.
After creaming the butter and sugar, adding the eggs and then the mashed bananas in went the sifted flour. I did a little taste test, I had to, and it was delicious. I knew this would be a good one, but was wondering if my cooked cranberries would work. The tartness was a perfect foil to the moist and tasty banana cake. I also decided to add a little bit of the syrup I cooked the cranberries in with the cream cheese and it all tied together beautifully.
First in the bundt pan went most of the banana cake batter, then I spread the cranberry cream cheese filling and topped that with the cooked cranberries. The balance of the batter topped that and in the oven it went.
What came out of the oven was one of the moistest, heavenly smelling cakes. I could smell the walnuts, but the cake needed some sort of topping and I knew white chocolate would do the trick. I mean, just look at this Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed Banana Bundt Cake!
This isn’t your average stuffed banana bundt cake. This is drool worthy.
It’s the perfect cake to serve guests this holiday season or to bring to a dinner party. Actually it will be one I make often, it’s that good. Who needs a holiday, right?
Even though there are a few extra steps more than making your average banana bread or cake, this is the best. Trust and enjoy!
Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed Banana Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- Filling:
- 6 oz fresh cranberries 1/2 a bag
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp orange zest 1/2 an orange
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs large
- 2 bananas mashed (1 cup total)
- 1 cup Greek yogurt plain
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
- Garnish:
- 4 oz white chocolate melted
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray interior surface of a 10-inch nonstick tube pan like an angle food cake or bundt, with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Bring water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the orange zest and cranberries and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to keep a low boil and cook for 10 minutes. Sauce should thicken. Remove from heat and place in a medium bowl and allow to cool. When cool enough, add 2 tablespoons of the syrup to the cream cheese and blend until smooth with hand mixer. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Set aside.
- Using a stand or hand mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy on medium high speed, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix in vanilla, yogurt and bananas until just until combined. Gradually add flour mixture to banana/butter mixture. Beat until just combined. Measure out 1/4 cup batter and set aside for cream cheese filling.
- Measure out 1 cup batter (to top cream cheese layer) and spoon the rest of the batter into the prepared pan.
- To the mixing bowl with the cranberry cream cheese, fold in the 1/4 cup reserved batter and mix until smooth. Spoon the cranberry cream cheese filling over batter in pan and gently smooth, making sure not to spread to sides of the pan. Top with drained cranberries. Spread the reserved 1 cup batter evenly on top of the filling. Tap pan on counter a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. Bake for 60-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Gently invert cake onto a serving plate. Let cool to room temperature.
- Top with melted white chocolate drizzled over and chopped dried cranberries and walnuts.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
I made this cake and it is really excellent. In my freezer I had some leftover cranberry sauce which I made for Thanksgiving and didn’t use. I figured that would work for the cranberry part of the recipe. Also had a couple of frozen bananas which I pressed into service. I did not have the white chocolate so I used a cream cheese topping instead. When I got the cake out of the pan I noticed that it was very dark (looked almost like chocolate). I thought I had somehow overbaked it but that was not the case. I think the darkness may have been caused by the baking spray that I used. Next time I make this cake I will try buttering and flouring the pan. The cake is moist with a subtle hint of banana and the vein of cranberry & cream cheese is just yummy – a nice tangy/sweet taste. Here is the result:
Looks and sounds delicious, Mary. So glad you enjoyed it!
Can I use frozen cranberries?
Sure, I’d that them out first though.
Could this be converted to a mini-loaf recipe?
Hi Anna, that’s a good question, but I have not done that myself. I would give it a go and adjust the baking time to 20 minutes and check. Don’t want a dry cake. If a toothpick comes out clean it’s good, or keep baking and test every 5 minutes. Please let me know! Happy Holidays to you and yours. ?
This bundt looks so rich and festive! I love that you make it a little healthier with banana and greek yogurt, but to look at it you would never know!
Thanks Rachel, it definitely is one of the moistest cakes and perfect for the holidays. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day. 🙂