Thank you all for your kind words regarding my break. We had a wonderful warm (85 degrees) Christmas in which we welcomed to new members to our family- Brownie the kitten and Frosty the snake. I hope you all had a great holiday too!
I made this cake a while ago thinking it would be a great Christmas dessert. Even though Christmas has come and gone, this would make a stunning dessert for New Year’s Eve.
Made with pulverized freeze dried cranberries from Just Tomatoes, Etc. , this cake is bursting with cranberry flavors.
I love using these products because not only do they give a fresh fruit flavor, but because they are dried they do not create extra moisture in the batter. Also, the fruits add a natural food coloring to cakes and cookies. No wild and crazy children reacting to red food coloring here!
Combined with my favorite Plugrá European Style butter, this cake is moist to perfection! Plugrá is truly the BEST butter to use for baking, especially cakes. It would be the perfect cake to bring in the new year!
This cake is actually only a 6in cake, but because it was such a tall cake it fed 9 people. If you are looking to feed a crowd and want a tall cake, I would double the recipe. If not, this recipe makes enough for a 2 cake layer 8in cake.
Now, in order to make this cake you need a food processor or a coffee/spice grinder. So, one lucky winner will win this Cuisinart DLC-2007N Prep 7 7-Cup Food Processor, White
- For the cake:
- 2 sticks butter (softened)
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or regular vanilla
- 2 whole eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup pulverized Freeze Dried Cranberries
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk with a splash of white vinegar)
- 1 bag fresh cranberries
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/4 c orange juice
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 1 1/2 tsp gelatin
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter , softened
- 1/2 cup melted white chocolate
- 4 cups powdered sugar , sifted
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature.
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In a separate bowl, combine flour, dried cranberries (pulverized into a powder), salt, baking powder and soda and mix.
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In your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend butter, sugar and vanilla at medium speed until pale and fluffy.
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Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition.
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Reduce speed to low and add a cup of flour followed by 1/3 of the buttermilk. Repeat this 3 times, until you have incorporated all the flour and buttermilk.
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Grease two 8in cake pans or 3 6in pans.
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Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan and allow to completely cool on a cooling rack.
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In a saucepan combine 1 bag of fresh, rinsed cranberries.
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Add sugar and orange juice.
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Cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes.
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Once berries have started to pop, pour the mixture into a blender and blend on high until smooth.
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Pour back into the pan and add 1 and 1/2 tsp gelatin.
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Cook on medium low heat until the mixture coats the back of the spoon, about 15 minutes.
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Remove from heat and cool until room temperature.
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Once at room temp, refrigerate for 1 hour.
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Beat whipping cream on high until stiff peaks form.
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Fold in orange zest and cranberry sauce.
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Beat butter and extract for 2 minutes.
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Add powdered sugar and milk or cream.
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Beat with whisk attachment for 3 minutes on high.
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Frost cooled cake and decorate
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Assemble cake by adding a thick layer of cranberry mousse in between each cake layer.
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Refrigerate assembled cake for 1 hour before frosting.