Recipe: Cranberry Ginger Spice Cake, Nut-Free, Gluten-Free

If you like your spice cake with some ginger kick and sweet tart from fresh cranberries, then this is the recipe for you!

You know how I love the Namaste Foods spice cake mix; I’ve made it into pumpkin spice cake, sweet potato spice cake, for example, and now cranberry ginger spice cake. And with so much “free-from” it’s really inclusive of so many people. More about Namaste Foods here and their box as of December 2017 below.

This cake is moist, flavorful, spicy from the ginger and sweet-tart from cranberries. 

If you want to gild the lily, drizzle a glaze made out of oranges zest and juice for extra tang and brightness!

*This post is not sponsored. I bought all of these ingredients. I just really like Namaste Foods and trust their brand.*

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Cranberry Ginger Spice Cake, Nut-Free, Gluten-Free:
Inspired by Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread #NYTCooking


1/3 cup water
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
13 ounces of dry Namaste spice cake mix
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
12 ounce bag of fresh or frozen cranberries, rinsed and drained
½ cup sugar in the raw


Make the cranberry compote: In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir together cranberries and sugar. Stir the cranberries over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and cranberries are bubbling and mostly broken down, with some still whole, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Make the cake according to the directions on the box: Whisk together water, oil and eggs. Add the dry Namaste mix and the ground ginger and combine.

In a square or round 9 inch parchment-lined pan, scrape out the batter. Add three to four heaping spoons of the cranberry compote, and swirl through. My batter turned a little pink in spots, yes!

Cook in 9 inch square pan for 32 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. 

Cool and enjoy!

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Optional Orange Glaze:

1 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon Cara Cara orange zest
1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed Cara Cara OJ, plus a few more spoons to get the glaze the consistency you want.

Wash and scrub a Cara Cara orange. Zest and juice it. Add those yummy things to a cup of sugar, mix to desired consistency. Try not to taste every 5 seconds. No actually, go ahead, it’ll be sweet, zingy, full of fresh orange smell and taste. Drizzle onto the Cranberry Ginger Spice Cake and enjoy!