Fluffy and Delicious Orange Cranberry Cake
This orange cranberry cake is soft and velvety. Inside, you will find a cranberry sauce that combines perfectly with the orange-flavored cream cheese frosting. It is topped with the same frosting, sugared cranberries and rosemary, dried oranges, and lemon cookies. This cake will be the star of your Christmas table!
Servings: 10 slices
Equipment
- 3 6-inch cake pans
- Straight spatula for decorating
- Piping bag
- Wilton 2D piping tip
Ingredients
Cake
- 300 g Granulated sugar
- Zest of 1 Orange
- 180 g Unsalted butter soft
- 3 Eggs
- 140 g Greek yogurt
- 100 ml Orange juice
- 290 g Cake flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Baking soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 200 g Cranberries frozen or fresh
- 15 g Cake flour
Cranberry Sauce
- 120 g Cranberries
- 60 g Granulated Sugar
- 40 ml Orange Juice
Orange-flavored cream cheese frosting
- 320 g Firm cream cheese
- 200 g Unsalted butter soft
- Zest of 1 orange
- 520 g Icing sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease and line with parchment paper three 6-inch cake pans.
- In a bowl, place the sugar with the orange zest and rub with your hands until the sugar is moist and scented with the orange essential oils.
- Beat the sugar with the softened butter until pale and creamy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Then add the yogurt and continue mixing until smooth.
- Mix the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and add half to the batter. Continue beating until combined.
- Add the orange juice and mix. Then, add the rest of the dry ingredients and continue beating until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, toss the cranberries with the flour until they get fully coverd with the flour.
- Mix the cranberries into the batter and combine gently with a spatula.
- Pour the batter into the three cake pans, splitting it into equal parts. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave in the molds for 10-15 minutes and unmold.
- Let them fully cool, and remove the cake tops to get even layers. Wrap each layer in plastic. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.
Cranberry sauce
- In a saucepan, place the cranberries, sugar, and orange juice. If you’re using frozen cranberries, add them directly from the freezer. Mix and bring to medium heat. When the mixture begins to boil, lower the heat and continue cooking until the fruit softens and most of the liquid has evaporated (about 5 minutes).
- Let cool before filling the cake. As it cools, it becomes firmer.
Cream cheese frosting and decoration
- Bring the cream cheese to room temperature an hour beforehand. Beat the cream cheese with the paddle attachment on a stand mixer (or a handheld mixer) until the cream cheese softens.
- Add the soft butter and orange zest and continue beating until you get a creamy mixture.
- Add the icing sugar and salt and continue beating on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes until you get a fluffy and stable frosting.
- To assemble the cake, set a layer of cake on the plate. Place cream cheese and spread it, creating a rim of frosting on the edge of the cake layer. Add the cranberry sauce and spread it.
- Cover with another cake layer and do the same with the next layer. Cover the whole cake with a thin layer of frosting and let cool in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
- Once the crumb coat is set, add more cream cheese on the top and sides of the cake. Spread the frosting with short strokes to get a rustic design.
- Set a piping bag with a star tip and fill it with frosting. Make small rosettes around the top of the cake.
- Decorate with cookies, dried orange slices, and sugared cranberries and rosemary.
