This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake recipe is no doubt a new favorite – especially for Christmas! The cake is incredibly moist and flavorful and the cranberries add the prefect burst of fruity flavor.

This weekend was crazy busy, but so fun! We finally started turning our “formal living room” into my office. We’d already cleared the room, so this weekend we steam cleaned the carpets and got the main pieces of furniture. I still want to get a few other things and some decorative pieces, but the big stuff is there and I’m ready to get organized!
We got the furniture at IKEA and I love it! It took us forever to get through the store though. I got three pieces of furniture – a desk, shelves for all my props, and a table to use for taking photos on. It took awhile to pick everything out since IKEA has all these things in different rooms. I was taking a lot of pictures and trying to picture them all in a room together.
The hubs didn’t really realize IKEA was so big and had so much stuff, so he was pretty excited to realize they had so many decorative things and stuff beyond just furniture. I think we’ll be making another trip soon.
If you’ve been before, you know you collect the boxes at the end of the trek through the store. One of our items – the table – was back where only IKEA employees could get to it so after we checked out, we had to wait at the pick up area for it. It took longer than we expected though, so the hubs started wondering around near the food. Next thing I knew, he came back with ICEEs and cinnamon rolls. ICEEs are one of his all-time faves.
“The cinnamon rolls had just come out of the oven and were only $1,” he said.
Oh, how well he knows me. Besides, it’d been so long it was dinner time and we were hungry. Those cinnamon rolls didn’t last 30 seconds. And they were good too. So fluffy!
Kind of like this cake. 🙂
HOW TO MAKE THIS WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE
The cake itself is a little modification of my vanilla cupcakes, doubled. Dang is it good. It is so moist and the flavor is to die for. I love that it’s one bowl and everything just gets mixed together. One note about the mixing – you don’t want to over mix the batter. Once everything is combined, you only want to mix until it’s smooth. No longer.
The cranberries get stirred in after the mixing. This was my first time ever baking, or even tasting, fresh cranberries. I didn’t realize they were so tart! But baked into the lightly dense cake, they are sweeter and delicious! I love the pop of fruit in the cake.
The icing is full of white chocolate. It’s made basically by making white chocolate ganache, then adding butter and powdered sugar. Delicious.
DECORATING YOUR WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH SPARKLING CRANBERRIES:
And I was totally in love with the sparkling cranberries. They are just so festive! Because of them though, the cake takes a little planning. The cranberries sit in a simple syrup overnight so they get nice and sticky. Then they’re covered in sugar. I waited until the cake was all made and iced before moving onto the cranberries and that was silly of me. It was whole other day before I could finish off the cake with the cranberries and dig in.
It was worth the wait though.
I used some of the remaining sugar that had clumped together on top of the cake. It felt so snowy and wintery.
Growing up, my younger brother and I always wished for a white Christmas. I don’t think we’ve ever had one, but this cake would definitely make up for it. 🙂
This Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake was a hit with everyone! I’m so glad too, because I needed help eating it. I knew if I didn’t get it out of the house soon enough, I’d devour the whole thing. Yummy!
You might also like these recipes:
Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cupcakes
White Chocolate Cranberry Fudge
Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Bundt Cake
White Chocolate Dipped Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Eggnog Pancakes with Maple Cranberry Syrup
Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Servings
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake recipe is a new Christmas fav! The cake is incredibly moist & flavorful with colorful sparkling cranberries.
Ingredients
SPARKLING CRANBERRIES
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- 1 1/2 cups (310g) sugar, divided
- 1 cup (240ml) water
CRANBERRY CAKE
- 3 1/3 cups (433g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups (336g) salted butter (336g), room temperature
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) sour cream
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
- 3 cups fresh cranberries
WHITE CHOCOLATE ICING
- 12 oz white chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup (180ml) heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 cup (168g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8–9 cups (920-1035g) powdered sugar
- salt, to taste
Instructions
SPARKLING CRANBERRIES:
CRANBERRY CAKE:
WHITE CHOCOLATE ICING:
TO PUT THE CAKE TOGETHER:
Notes
I think most cakes are best if they are allowed to settle for at least 12-24 hours after icing. It allows to flavors to settle. This cake will stay moist for several days after being iced.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 1067
- Sugar: 130.3 g
- Sodium: 222 mg
- Fat: 45.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 159.9 g
- Protein: 8.5 g
- Cholesterol: 143.9 mg
Keywords: white chocolate cake, white chocolate dessert, sparkling cranberry dessert, christmas cake, christmas dessert, holiday dessert
Filed Under:
Enjoy!
I am looking forward to baking this and want to know the adjustment in time/temp for 2 9″ cake pan. Thank you
I haven’t made it that size, so I’m not sure of the exact bake time. I’d use the same temperature.
Hi, I’m looking forward to baking this for thanksgiving. Do I need to add all of the cranberries to the syrup mixture?
The ones for the cake layers don’t need to be added to the syrup. The ones added to the syrup are just for decorating, so you can use less if you like. Depends on how many you want to use to decorate.
Do you know of any adjustments that should be made to make this into a cake pop instead of an iced cake?
I’m not sure. I don’t really make a lot of cake pops.
This cake is so delicious!!! Do you store it in the fridge? Or just on the counter?
So glad you’re happy with it! Buttercream should be refrigerated after about 24 hours at room temperature, so yes, you’d likely need to refrigerate it.
Does this cake have to be refrigerated?
Buttercream should be refrigerated after about 24 hours at room temperature, so yes, you’d likely need to refrigerate it.
Hi I was wondering if frozen cranberries could be used? I’m in Australia and haven’t ever seen them fresh. Thank you
That should be fine. I’d thaw them and remove the excess water before adding them.
How to make it a sheet cake?
I haven’t made it that size before. You shouldn’t need to adjust any ingredients, I don’t think. I often reduce baking temperature for a 9×13 to 325, but I haven’t tested that with this.
Hello Thank you for this recipe!
It looks like a wonderful recipe to try this Christmas.
Can I replace the fresh cranberries with the dry ones?
Where I live is not available the fresh ones.
I have never tried dried cranberries in something other than cookies. I imagine they would be a little firm and chewy. Do you have access to frozen cranberries?
Great recipe. However, I added vanilla (1 1/2 tea) to the icing. I take this cake to Christmas parties and get great reviews. It looks like a cake out of the Southern Living magazine.
So glad it’s a hit!
My family adores this cranberry cake, but I wondered can you make it cupcakes instead?
So glad you enjoy it! I imagine it would be fine as cupcakes.