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 āformal living roomā into my office. Weād 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 Iām 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 didnāt 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 weāll be making another trip soon.
If youāve 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.
āThe cinnamon rolls had just come out of the oven and were only $1,ā he said.
Oh, how well he knows me. Besides, itād been so long it was dinner time and we were hungry. Those cinnamon rolls didnāt last 30 seconds. And they were good too. So fluffy!
Kind of like this cake. š
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 itās one bowl and everything just gets mixed together. One note about the mixing – you donāt want to over mix the batter. Once everything is combined, you only want to mix until itās smooth. No longer.
The cranberries get stirred in after the mixing. This was my first time ever baking, or even tasting, fresh cranberries. I didnāt 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. Itās 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 theyāre 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 donāt think weāve ever had one, but this cake would definitely make up for it. š
This Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake was a hit with everyone! Iām so glad too, because I needed help eating it. I knew if I didnāt get it out of the house soon enough, Iād devour the whole thing. Yummy!
More Cranberry Dessert Recipes
- Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cupcakes
- White Chocolate Cranberry Fudge
- Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Bundt Cake
- White Chocolate Dipped Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Cranberry Bliss Bars
Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake
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Ingredients
Sparkling Cranberries
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- 1 1/2 cups (310g) granulated sugar (divided)
- 1 cup (240ml) water
Cranberry Cake
- 3 1/3 cups (433g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups (336g) salted butter (room temperature)
- 3 large 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
- Bring 1 cup sugar and water to a simmer in a saucepan. Simmer until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Pour simple syrup into a heatproof bowl and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Add cranberries and stir to coat.
- Refrigerate cranberries in syrup overnight, stirred a couple times to coat with syrup.
- Remove cranberries from syrup and roll in remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. You'll need to roll them a few times to get a couple layers of sugar on them.
- Set cranberries aside to dry for a hour or so.
Cranberry Cake
- Preheat oven to 350ā. Prepare three 8-inch cake pans with baking spray and parchment paper in the bottom of the pans.
- Whisk together flour, sugar and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
- Add butter, eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream and milk and mix on medium speed just until smooth. Do not over mix.
- Gently stir in cranberries.
- Spread batter evenly between the three cake pan.
- Bake 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs.
- Allow to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to finish cooling.
White Chocolate Icing
- Place white chocolate chips in a metal bowl.
- Microwave heavy cream until it starts to boil. Remove from microwave and pour over chocolate chips.
- Cover bowl with saran wrap for 5-7 minutes.
- Whisk chocolate and cream until smooth.
- Allow ganache to sit until mostly cool. It should be thick.
- Beat the ganache with a mixer for about 2-3 minutes, until smooth and fluffy.
- Add butter and beat until it is fully combined.
- Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until it is fluffy and the right consistency. Add more cream if needed.
Put the Cake Together
- Remove cake domes from cakes with a large serrated knife.
- Place first layer of cake on cake plate. Spread about icing on top in an even layer.
- Add second layer of cake and add more icing on top in an even layer.
- Add final layer of cake on top and ice the outside of the cake.
- Top the cake with sparkling cranberries and add some around the edge, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Enjoy!
Categories:
Cakes and Cupcakes, Christmas, Fall and Holiday Favorites, Holidays, Recipes, Sweets and Treats,
How in the world do you get your frosting so smooth that it looks like fondant? Looking at making the Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake….
Here is my tutorial showing my method. š I hope you enjoy the cake!
The Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake is amazing! Took it to a Christmas luncheon and was a HUGE success. Will be making it again! Merry Christmas!
I made this cake last Christmas and it was a show stopper! Wonderful recipe and I think I may just have to make it again this year due to so many requests š
Awesome! I’m glad it was such a hit! š
Hi Lindsay! I made this cake for our department’s Christmas party the other night. I am a little annoyed with myself though since I think I over-mixed the batter as the cake turned out a little rubbery. That being said, it still got rave reviews by everyone at the party! By the time the night was done, people had gone back for seconds and were asking me to make their wedding cake! Thank you so much for sharing your delicious cake recipes with us! Have a Merry Christmas!
I’m glad everyone enjoyed it! Merry Christmas!
Can I make the icing the night before???
Definitely!
I bet this cake is as delicious as it is beautiful. What a fabulous idea!
Thanks Gail! š
I made the cake and it was very good! the taste of the cake itself I loved especially with the tartness of the cranberries. However, it was very crumbly. Im not sure what I did wrong.Ā Also, I only used 2 cups of sugar for the frosting and even that seemed a bit much and overall it was slightly heavy.Ā
I really enjoy the flavor of the cake and a bit of sweetness from the icing is a must but I mainly avoid the icing when eating it.
Could I make the Cranberry cake in a bundt pan?
I haven’t tried it, but I’ve been told that others have and it was a success.
I tried to make the cranberry cakes were raw in the middle. What went wrong?
So hard to say from a distance without seeing everything.
You just say to mix the dries then go on to mixing wets. Should I put wet ingredients in the dries one by one, or mix them seperately and combine them?
Honestly, either way would work fine. This isn’t a super fussy recipe. The way the recipe is written though is to just add it all to the dry ingredients and use one bowl.
Lovely looking cake, will try it this weekend. My sister is coming over. One question, doesn’t the butter, sour cream and milk/egg mixture curdle once you add them together. Not everything will be the same temperature.
I have tried a cake recipe similar to this before, following your same method here it always turns out a big curdled mess. Please give tips! Thanks.
I haven’t had that problem, but you can definitely make sure the ingredients are all at room temperature to help avoid that.
It is very hard to get fresh cranberries here in New Zealand. Do you think I could replace them with fresh raspberries?
Yes, they’d be fine in the cake. I’m not sure they’d work if you “spark” them, but they’d still look great on top of the cake. š
Dear Lindsay,
Hope you are doing well.
I wanted to try your sparkling cranberry white chocolate cake recipe. But unfortunately I couldn’t find any fresh cranberries here. Could you please recommend another fruit for the same recipe.
Appreciate your advice. Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Roni Alex
I would imagine another type of berry would work fine as a replacement. If you have a specific one you are thinking, feel free to ask about it.
I love sugared cranberries! Not only are they beautiful, but I love the pop of flavor they give you! This cake sounds amazing!
hi Friend, here on Greece we dont have fresh cranberries (or blueberry et) what else i cant replace it?
Hi you can purchase dried cranberries and rehydrate them. If the recipe calls for 1 cup of fresh you should measure 3/4 cup of dried cranberries and place them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them until they are covered and cover them so the steam is contained so that the cranberries can absorb the water. You can also use hot fruit juice to enhance the flavour of the dried berries and can also add back some of the nutritious value into the berries. After they plump up a bit you can let them sit for a while then add them to the cake.
Help! I’m from the Netherlands and my oven doesnt bake that high! (350 degrees) is it diffrent for European messures?
Yes, the 350 degrees is in fahrenheit. I believe it’s 176 degrees celcius.