Vegan Cranberry Orange Bread

This vegan cranberry orange bread is oil-free, sweet, and easy to make for a festive treat.  It’s full of zesty little cranberries, sweet orange juice, and gets a little crunch from the pumpkin seeds.  The icing drizzle is optional, but it makes it look a little more elegant and it’s super tasty.

How to Make a Vegan Cranberry Bread

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C), either grease or line a 5x9 loaf pan with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the applesauce, sugar, orange zest, fresh orange juice, dairy-free milk, and vanilla. 

In a large bowl, whisk the whole-wheat flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix them together.  I like to stop when everything is almost combined and fold in the cranberries and pumpkin seeds. 

Pour the mixture into a prepared loaf pan.  Bake for about 45-55 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

When the loaf is completely cooled, whisk together ½ cup of powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of orange juice.  Then drizzle the icing over the top of the loaf.  

Substitutions for Whole Wheat Cranberry Bread

• Raw pumpkin seeds can be substituted for any chopped nut
• 1 cup of whole-wheat flour can be substituted with 1 cup of all-purpose flour for a lighter bread (in texture) without adjusting for the liquid in the recipe.  I haven’t tested substituting both cups of flour with all-purpose flour. 

Tips for Baking Vegan Orange Cranberry Bread

• When zesting your orange, a micro-plane works well; be sure to only remove the bright orange skin, not the white pith underneath.
• If your baking soda and/or baking powder clumps,  sift it so it evenly distributes in the dry ingredients.
• Oven temperatures can be inaccurate. An inexpensive oven thermometer can help you know your oven's actual temperature. These are very helpful in preventing baking mishaps due to unreliable oven temperatures.
• Wait on icing the loaf until you are ready to serve.
• If transporting the bread, plastic wrap will stick to the icing. If you do need to use plastic wrap, I haven't tried this but I've read you can use toothpicks to tent the plastic wrap so it doesn't touch the bread. Then take out the toothpicks before serving.
• Measuring a ½ cup of powdered sugar by volume can yield different results for some people because of how packed the fluffy powder is. So I would recommend looking for the right consistency when making your icing. Add more powdered sugar if it's too runny, add more milk if it's too dry (a little goes a long way).
• You want the icing to be thick to set up on your bread, if it's too thin it will just melt into the bread. It needs to be spoonable, but not run off your spoon like soup, but not too thick.  Similar to Elmer’s glue consistency. Probably not the best analogy for food, but I hope it helps with the visual!

Storing Leftovers

• Store at room temperature covered for 1 day or refrigerate for up to a week.
• The bread can also be frozen unglazed or glazed for up to 3 months.
• I like to slice leftovers and freeze the individual slices. To do this line a baking tray that will fit in your freezer with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Place the slices on the tray (not touching each other) and freeze overnight. Then transfer the frozen slices to a freezer bag or container. Now they're frozen individually! When ready to consume, thaw the desired amount in the refrigerator.

This wasn’t intentional, but the vegan cranberry loaf has some festive holiday colors.  Green from the pumpkin seeds, red from the cranberries, and white from the glaze.  I just thought pumpkin seeds and cranberries sounded good and the drizzle would dress up the loaf.  How festive!

I hope you enjoy the recipe for vegan cranberry orange bread!

More Vegan Desserts

• Vegan Snickerdoodle Cookies
• Vegan Peanut Butter Cookie Bars
• Vegan Pumpkin Muffins (No Oil)
• Pumpkin peanut butter muffins
• Chocolate covered Cookie Dough Bites
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites
• Orange Cranberry Oatmeal Bars
• Vegan Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffles

Originally published on December 20, 2019, updated on December 14, 2021.

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