White Chocolate Cranberry Cake – Vanilla bean white chocolate pound cake with cranberry compote and white chocolate frosting.
Holiday Cake Flavors
One of the many reasons I love the holidays is all the seasonal flavors I get to bake with! Pumpkin, apple, butternut squash, gingerbread, hazelnut, cranberry… there’s just so much to choose from! I’ve already shared a couple of these flavors with you (Pumpkin Pie Cake, Gingerbread Lemon Cake, and my White Chocolate Peppermint Cake – to name a few). And I just love them all!
White Chocolate Cranberry Cake
One of my favorites is an oldie but goodie. I came up with this recipe a few years ago. I think cranberries are the essence of Christmastime, and an obvious but delightful choice for any cake. For this cake, I paired a tart cranberry compote with a sweet, white chocolate vanilla bean pound cake. This cake texture is a little different from my norm. It’s a much more dense cake than you’re probably used to. In fact, this cake actually reminds me of the Starbucks White Chocolate Cranberry Blondie Bar.
While the texture is a bit heavier than most cakes, I think it balances so well with the jelly-like compote and the silky white chocolate buttercream. The flavor and texture combination in this cake always get thumbs up from my taste testers. I have no doubt you’ll love it too!
Stacking Tips
For this cake, it’s important to note that you add some buttercream on the cake layer, as well as pipe some of the frosting around the cake layer before you add the compote. You want to make sure the compote doesn’t seep into the cake layers or come out the sides while you frost.
I then did a semi-naked coat of frosting on this cake. To achieve this look, I actually did a very thin crumb coat first, then froze the cake per usual for about 10 minutes.
After this initial crumb coat was frozen, I then did another thin layer of frosting – almost like another crumb coat. (You can find the video tutorial at the end of this post).
I’ve also included the recipe for the candied cranberries, which I think make the look of the cake. Such a sophisticated, classy look, don’t you think?
Video Tutorial
Enjoy!
Bake the cake frosting and sugared cranberry were delicious. I found the cake to be very dense, was wondering if I did something incorrect
Any assistance with the cake would be appreciate
Actually, this cake is supposed to be dense. It’s a pound cake texture.
Hi😊
What other fruits can we use the same sparkling cranberries recipe?
You could really try anything, just be careful when pouring the simple syrup over the other fruit since it doesn’t have a “shell” like the cranberries.
Can’t wait to make this can it also work as cupcakes?
I actually haven’t tried it as cupcakes, but I think it will.
Do you think this would work well with your regular vanilla cake? I’m thinking vanilla cake, compote and white chocolate buttercream filling, vanilla buttercream exterior…?
Yes definitely
I’m planning to put sugared cranberries on a wedding cake. How long can I leave them on the cake before worrying about them “bleeding” onto the buttercream? I’m assuming that I need to refrigerate the entire cake until serving? It is going to be transported up to the mountains (about 2 hours) then refrigerated until the next day. Help! 🙂
I would wait till the last minute to put them on. I would also freeze your cake until the night before the reception, then move it to the fridge until you drive up. That way it’s still pretty cold as you travel too.
Finished making this today. It looks amazing! The frosting is delicious as is str cranberry compote and sugared cranberries. We will cut into the cake tonite.
Your directions are very clear and I had no problems at all. Instead of the rustic look, I chose to do more of a fine ribbon pattern. Thank you for your recipes and Merry Christmas!
Love it! Merry Christmas!!
Hi! I’m just wondering if you could divide this batter between two 9 inch pan instead of the three 8 inch pans. Would it effect the bake at all or just the height?
Baking time might be a little off. Just keep an eye on it!
For the cake it says that it’s a White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Cake. However I don’t see the white chocolate in the recipe for the cake? I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything? Also I do not have Vanilla Bean on hand. What would you suggest I use? Thanks so much!
Its a vanilla cake with white chocolate frosting. And you can use vanilla extract!