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 long do you mix? Should it still have butter lumps in the batter
It often does have butter lumps, but you could actually melt the butter so that thatās not a problem.
I donāt like white chocolate at all not even a little. Iām a pretty decent baker so Iām going to make a vanilla buttercream with a tad of orange. Orange cranberry muffins are my fave this time of year so I think it will be great š Excited to try this. Iām sort of obsessed with cranberries lately š Thanks for the recipe. Looking forward to it.
My batter is lumpy from not creaming butter with sugar… Ā I had it at room temperature. Ā Iām not sure what to do now? Ugh!
Can this cake be made as cupcakes?
Sure.
Mine turned a bit densed & raw in the middle too. I did cream the butter, next time thinking of creaming the butter & sugar. The cake was a hit with my friends. Love it.
Iām planning on making this cake tomorrow. I live in the UK, Iāve bought some fresh cranberries but on the packet it says not to be eaten raw. Obviously in the cake itās not a problem but Iām just worried about the ones on top? It looks delicious and beautiful, I hope it turns out okay. Thank you, kayleigh.Ā
Since Iām not from the UK, Iām not sure if there are differences between fresh cranberries here and there. I donāt think that itās an issue eating them raw in the US. If they do need to be cooked, you could try simmering them on the stove with the water and sugar mixture. But having not tried that before I donāt know if thatās going to turn out well or not.
Okay thank you.Ā
It’s a beautiful cake but it is too dense and heavy. It also lacks in flavor a bit. Great idea with some adjustments.
Do you cover this in plastic and store overnight in the fridge? Ā I am soaking the cranberries overnight in the syrup as suggested, not sure what to do with the Ā frosted cake.
The most beautiful Holiday cake! So I attempted to make the cake for a holiday bake off, I realized I used unsalted butter, that made a difference! So I attempted a second try and it was a success! But than realized I added the sugar to the butter first! Your recipe calls for adding all dry into wet ingredients, anyhow it was just fine maybe a little more lumpyĀ
I decided to add a vanilla Godiva mousse filling in between the layers of the cake but still first adding the frosting first Ā than the mousseĀ
The cake was fabulous, beautiful AND I won the super bake off for overall Christmas dessert! Our judge of panels were so incredible! Michelle Bomarrito was one of the judges!Ā
Thanks so much! The Sparkilng cranberries were a hit!!!!
Iām so glad it was a hit! Congratulations on your win!
This looks amazing, do you think it would alter the cake in a bad way if I added orange zest to either the batter or the icing?
No, the orange flavor would probably be very tasty.
Just made this cake yesterday and it was fantastic! Ā I was a little nervous because of some of the earlier reviews, but followed the recipe exactly as written and was very happy with the results. Ā My batter was definitely a little lumpy (probably because I did as the recipe said and didn’t cream the butter first), but it baked fine. Ā While it was denser than a lot of the other cakes that I’ve made, I found that it really didn’t bother me (and to be honest, I hardly noticed). Ā I ended up using 3 9″ pans as I didn’t have 8″ and they needed just under 35 minutes to bake in my oven (for those who were asking earlier). Ā Thank you for the recipe! Ā I will definitely be making it again!
In using buttercream frosting does this cake have to be refrigerated?
The cake would be fine at room temperature for several hours, but if letting it sit overnight, you might want to refrigerate it.
This is gorgeous! I’m making one for Thanksgiving!
I hope you enjoy it!
This recipe was just featured in the December 2019 issue of Canadian Living magazine. The only thing that varied was the amount of vanilla extract used, and the decoration on the outside of the cake.
I really hope that Canadian Living gave you credit for basically copying your recipe!
This is the link to the recipe in the magazine:
https://www.pressreader.com/canada/canadian-living/20191201/281500753028883
Thank you so much for letting me know Linda. That is so disheartening. They certainly didn’t contact me at all and I don’t imagine they gave me credit anywhere. Sadly, because they took their own photos of the recipe and recipes themselves can’t be copyrighted, there’s nothing I can do. It’s a question of ethics, not law. Unfortunately this kind of thing happens a lot. Thanks again for looking out! I really do appreciate it!
The cake is beautiful. Because the cranberries are tart, can raspberries be substituted?
Raspberries should be fine.
Is there any way to make this cake more Keto? Ā Will stevia or swerve work in place of sugar. And is there a flour that is keto that will rise?
I’m sorry, I haven’t tried any of those substitutions to know how it will affect the recipe and I’m not very familiar with Keto options.