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This cranberry and apple breakfast bake is the perfect festive breakfast. You’ve got the nostalgic flavours of cranberry and orange, crunchy sugar and toasted nuts, all incorporated into a healthy Christmas treat.
Imagine waking up on Christmas morning to a hot slice of this fruity, nutty cake, filling you up for the day’s festivities! It’s sure to be your new favourite Christmas bake recipe.
The holidays are usually a time of heavy eating (and drinking!). While there is no problem with that (Christmas comes but once a year!), it can be nice to have some lighter options to hand!
This healthy breakfast bake has been designed with your health in mind, as have our other vegetarian holiday recipes, including this green bean casserole (perfect for Thanksgiving) and these delicious vegetarian pigs in blankets!
Healthy apple breakfast bake: I’m dreaming of a LIGHT Christmas!
What sets this Christmas breakfast recipe aside from the rest?
We have chosen all our ingredients conscientiously, in order to make sure that this is a wholly healthy cranberry Christmas cake.
For example, we have used a mixture of oats and flour instead of just flour. Oats are more filling than white flour, containing 6.7g more fibre per 100g. This means that a slice of this apple breakfast bake will keep you full for longer than a slice of standard cake made with just flour.
We pulled the same trick in these oatmeal banana pancakes.
There are also a fair few apples in there, which aside from natural sugars and vitamins, add even more fibre to the mix! While we’re on apples, try our dutch pancakes if you fancy another apple breakfast recipe.
Furthermore, we have included low fat yoghurt in the recipe, which adds some protein and is a low-fat way to ensure that your healthy breakfast cake is moist and rich. One serving contains 12g of protein, which is a lot for a cake.
Calorie Controlled Cake
Overall a large serving of our cranberry & apple breakfast bake will provide you with 412 calories – a solid amount of energy with which to start your day!
By the way, in our weight loss courses we tend to recommend a daily calorie intake of between 1200-1500 calories, which comes to around 300-500 calories per meal. So this is the perfect breakfast to incorporate into your weight loss plan, if that is what you’re aiming for!
Health hacks: Yoghurt!
We think we’re onto something here!
Your classic cake recipe probably doesn’t include yoghurt, but we think that using yoghurt in cakes is a really smart move.
As mentioned above, yoghurt helps to make cakes moist and fluffy. It also lends a tangy flavour which prevents over-sweetness.
Yoghurt can also be used in a plethora of ways in baking to make a cake more healthy.
For example, you can substitute up to half the butter in a standard cake recipe for low fat yoghurt. Your cake will still be rich and creamy, but with considerably less saturated fat!
You can also replace shortening or oil with yoghurt to the same effect!
What’s more, if a recipe calls for any crême fraiche, sour cream, buttermilk or pretty much any other fatty dairy product….can you guess what I’m going to say? That’s right, use yoghurt!
These little nuggets of wisdom came from this article on how to use yoghurt in a cake, so check it out if you want to learn more!
But for now, enjoy this delicious cranberry and apple breakfast bake – a Christmas sweet recipe that won’t derail your weight loss goals!
Wondering how to eat healthily this holiday season? Start it off right with our healthy cranberry & apple breakfast bake!
- 350 g apple (about 3 apples)
- 120 g cranberries, dried
- 1 orange
- 1 tsbp cornstarch
- 4 ½ tsbp sugar (divided)
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup natural yogurt
- 2 tbsp butter
- 60 g oats
- 70 g flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp oats
- 2 tbsp almonds (chopped)
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Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
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Zest the orange and reserve until needed.
1 orange
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In a 9 inch baking dish add 350 g of apples peeled and cut into 1cm cubes, dried cranberries, the juice of the orange, 2 tbsp water, cornstarch and 1 ½ tbsp of sugar. Mix and reserve until needed.
350 g apple, 120 g cranberries, dried, 1 tsbp cornstarch, 4 ½ tsbp sugar
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In a blender or food processor process the oats until you have a fine powder.
60 g oats
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Melt the butter and add it to a medium sized bowl along with the eggs, natural yogurt, baking powder, salt, flour, powdered oats, zest of one orange, and the remaining sugar. Mix by hand or with a hand mixer until you have an homogenous cake dough.
4 ½ tsbp sugar, 2 eggs, ½ cup natural yogurt, 2 tbsp butter, 70 g flour, ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt
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Transfer the cake dough on top of the prepared baking dish with fruit and create a smooth surface with the batter. Top with oats and sliced almonds.
2 tbsp oats, 2 tbsp almonds
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Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a cake taster or a knife comes out clean after inserting it into the cake, and the top is golden brown.
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Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes (if you can wait) and eat.
Nutrition Facts
Apple Cranberry Christmas Bake
Amount per Serving
% Daily Value*
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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