The clouds part, and a chorus of angles sing as a picture of this Vegan Cranberry Pistachio Loaf appears. 🎶 "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh"Â 🎶
Too dramatic? NEVER!
But seriously, does this or doesn't this loaf look heavenly. It does. It really does. Pour me some coffee and serve me a slice of this cake and you just found my happy place. The cake is moist, sweet, and I love how every now and then you get a tart taste of cranberry or a crunch of pistachio.
Not a fan of all that icing? It's totally fantastic without and still looks just as pretty as a picture. ...well it is a picture, so... you get it. I am loving how the cranberries and pistachios make this loaf so festive! Perfect to serve Christmas morning or during the holiday season.
Now for story time: Find a comfortable seat. Ready?
I became friends with Andrew from One Ingredient Chef, when I unsubscribed from his blog newsletter. Let me explain. I decided to follow all of my favourite people on Bloglovin' because as a blogger, I get A LOT of email, and I thought it would be easier to keep track of my favourite blogs this way. I didn't want Andrew to get offended so I sent him an email explaining and it turns out we became good buds and started sending music videos back and forth to each other. (I like reggae, he likes dance).
Then one fine email day, we thought it might be fun to do something where we could collaborate on some awesome vegan ideas, and so we came up with something we like to call the Vegan Mystery Box Challenge!
"What is this mysterious challenge", you ask?
Andrew and I selected 3 mystery ingredients, and then we challenged vegan (or mostly vegan) bloggers from across the web to create a recipe using these three ingredients! Everyone posts their recipes at the same time, and share each others recipes with our readers to see what everyone came up with! How fun is that, right!? It's very fun.
We were so excited when so many people signed up, and I was even more excited when I saw how different each and every recipe turned out.
So what were the three mystery ingredients? Cranberries, pistachios, and coconut milk! (Yeah, we went for the holiday colours). The recipe I came up with was this Vegan Cranberry Pistachio Loaf.
Check out all of these amazing recipes from the first ever Vegan Mystery Box Challenge:Â
Magic Fruit Cake Bars with White Chocolate Drizzle by One Ingredient Chef
Cranberry Cheesecake & Pistachio Stuffed Vegan French Toast by Connoisseurus Veg
Pistachio Crusted Cranberry Cashew Coconut Cheese by Lemon and Coconut
Cranberry Pistachio and Mango Salad by Veggies Save the Day
Cranberry Cointreau Coconut Ice Cream with Candied Pistachios by Vegan Yack Attack
Cranberry Pistachio Donuts by Two City Vegans (Casey)
Cranberry Pistachio Gingersnap Truffles by Two City Vegans (Alix)
Warm Barley Bowl with Roasted Brussels, Sweet Potatoes and a Coconut Curry Dressing by Taste Space
Whole Wheat Cranberry Pistachio Vegan Biscotti by Veggie Inspired Journey
Coconut Pistachio Cashew Cheese Panini with Cranberry Jam by Peppers and Peaches
Toasted Pistachio Rice Pudding with Candied Cranberries by The Lazy Vegan Baker
Pistachio and Cranberry Cream Sandwich Cookies by Love Me Feed Me
Vegan Meringue Nests with Cranberry Coconut Whip and Crushed Pistachios by The Viet Vegan
Vegan Coconut Quinoa Salad by Beets Not Meats
Cranberry Orange & Pistachio Muffins With Vanilla Cream by A Virtual Vegan
Gourmet Lazy Cabbage Rolls by Choose to Cook
Sweet Potato Coconut Curry with Cranberries and Pistachios by The Tofu Diaries
Lebanese Semolina Pudding (Layali Lubnan)Â by Lands and Flavors
Vegan Chocolate Cranberry Cake by The Seasonal Diet
Jolly Bollywood Holiday Curry by Sexie Veggies
Are you not blown away by that list!? I am seriously so impressed at how many people participated AND how many creative recipes everyone came up with. It just shows that you can take the same 3 ingredients and have endless ways to prepare them! So much fun.
Let me know in the comments if you love this challenge, and if you think Andrew and I should start working on round two! If you're a vegan blogger and would to join in on the fun, sign up for the next Vegan Mystery Box Challenge. Follow the Vegan Mystery Box Challenge on social media with #VMBC
Once you are done drooling over all of the recipes, we return to my cranberry pistachio loaf cake, and I'll show you how to make this heavenly cake.
Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk together all the wet ingredients in a medium bowl.
Pour the wet into the dry, and stir until just combined. Add in the cranberries and pistachios and mix in. Be careful not to over mix.
Pour the batter into a lightly greased loaf pan, then sprinkle some more cranberries and pistachios down the center of the batter. Bake for around 1 hour until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
If you wish to make the icing, mix together all the icing ingredients, then drizzle over the completely cooked cake.
(click stars to vote)
Vegan Cranberry & Pistachio Loaf
Servings: loaf (about 12 slices)
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Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients:
- 1 ¼ cup full-fat coconut milk
- ½ cup light oil, (such as canola or vegetable oil)
- 2 tablespoons orange or lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the fruit & nuts:
- 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries, (plus ¼ cup for topping)
- â…“ cup shelled pistachios, (plus 1 tablespoon for topping)
For the Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons full-fat coconut milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- To make the loaf: Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Lightly grease a loaf pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl whisk together all of the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add in 1 cup of cranberries, and â…“ cup pistachios into the batter, and stir until they are just mixed in. Don't over mix your batter.
- Pour into the prepared pan, then sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of cranberries, and 1 tablespoon of pistachios down the center of the batter. Bake for about 55 to 65 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
- To make the icing: Mix all of the icing ingredients together. When the cake is completely cool, drizzle the icing over the cake.
Nutrition
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Bon Appetegan!
Sam.
Nan says
Yum yum yummy! So easy, hardest part was zesting the oranges. I used 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of a stevia/cane sugar blend for the sweetener. I will definitely make this again.
Sam Turnbull @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
So happy you enjoyed it Nan! 🙂
sara says
I have this recipe on repeat, I love it! I leave out the pistachios if I dont have them and have also added some almond extract because I'm obsessed with almond flavoring in the holidays. So good!
Lisa says
I make this recipe on repeat in the winter time. It’s so moist and delicious. I love all the flavors and textures - citrusy orange peel, sour cranberries, creamy coconut milk and crunch of the pistachios. So delicious!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
That's wonderful to hear!
Hilary says
I’ve been making this loaf for years. It’s honestly one of the easiest and best vegan quick breads I’ve found. I sub whatever nut I have on hand. (Today was pecans) always a hit with or without the glaze. (But the glaze makes it perfect)
Sam Turnbull says
Yay!! So happy you love it! Thank you for your review 🙂
Deb Fell says
Lovely! This will be perfect for Christmas! Thanks.
Jennifer says
This is one of my favorite recipes to make from this entire site. I have made this for the past several years, several times each year! I just made it for the first time this season yesterday. It's one of the few recipes I make exactly as written; I cannot improve upon it. It's very quick to put together and non-vegans love it too!
Kerrie Kennedy says
This is delicious and easy to make. The second time I made it I substituted raw pumpkin seeds for the pistachios (not as hard to bite into in the loaf) and regular almond milk for the coconut milk. Still worked out great. Delicious anytime, but has become a regular Christmas treat for us.. Definitely worth making.
Abi says
This looks gorgeous but I haven't made it yet as it's quite hard to find fresh or even frozen cranberries here. Could I use dried cranberries, or frozen raspberries do you think? Thank you!!
Claudia says
It looks delicious! Does the icing stay well on top of the cake if we make it 2 days ahead of time? Thanks in advance!
Sam Turnbull says
Yes it does! Just make sure the loaf is cooled completely before icing.
Aimee B. says
What a lovely way to use up some leftover cranberries and pistachios. I omitted the glaze and it was perfect without it. This is a definite keeper. Oh, and I made it in my mini loaf pan. It made 6 and they baked in my toaster oven for 21-23 minutes. 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Yay! So happy you enjoyed it Aimee 🙂
Karen Pearson says
Excellent. I've added this recipe bookmarked for ages but finally made it today. Of course I didn't think of it yesterday when I was at the grocery store, so didn't have pistachios. On a holiday, the nearest store that would carry pistachios is 20 minutes away, and it's too darn cold to go out. I really wanted to bake this today so I substituted hazelnuts. I needed to use up some applesauce so swapped that for the oil and also used oat milk instead of coconut milk. (It turned out well, Arrhiannon.) Reallly great loaf, moist and flavourful. I will make again when I have pistachios!
Jenbro says
This recipe is STUNNING! Holy cow, Sam, I can't get over the gorgeous texture of this bread/cake!!! I'm planning to use this as the base for many variations from now on! Thank you!
Jenbro says
Another beautiful recipe Sam! Have you made this as muffins? I’m curious how many it might make. Thanks!
Alice says
Wow, SUCH a good recipe! I made 10 of these as Christmas gifts for friends and neighbours so I’ve basically memorised the recipe now. No one could tell it was vegan, and I got a lot of texts and compliments saying how good it was! The only thing I found needed to be changed was the cooking time. I ended up having to go to about 1 hour 20 for it to be totally cooked. Other than that I definitely recommend making a loaf of this for any family gathering, have one ready for Xmas morning or give one away if as a treat to someone special. You will impress everyone!