For another cranberry Christmas dessert, check out my Christmas Chocolate Cake with Cranberries for a chocolate lover in your family. It’s always incredibly fun to open the holiday season with a cake that looks like a snowflake itself! It doesn’t hurt when it tastes light, flavourful and delightfully sweet with each mouthful. My cranberry Christmas cake recipe covered with orange flavoured cream cheese frosting is all that and more. The recipe for this cake is very familiar. It consists of a classic British sponge with a handful of fresh cranberries folded in for a fresh and tangy pop in each bite. Tart cranberries provide a much needed balance for the sweetness of cream cheese icing the cake is wrapped in. The sponge itself is so delicate and fluffy we found it a bit challenging to slice it cleanly. The texture was so light!
How to make a perfect sponge cake
I don’t know about you but I always get slightly nervous before I whip up cake batter for a proper sponge. It feels like every batch is different and has a mind of its own. I always follow my recipes with precision as I know all too well that baking is a science. There is little room for improvisation. Proportions have to be maintained. Mixing, whipping and folding techniques must be executed perfectly each time. Yet mistakes happen, each sponge is slightly different and each cake bakes differently. It is life but it sure helps when we have time-tested recipes that make us kitchen heroes in our family’s eyes! Who is with me? The sponge recipe I come back to over and over again is classic. It’s the one that is used for Victoria Sponge Cake. What is so unique about this recipe is that it uses equal amounts of butter, flour and sugar. 250g of each to be exact, and it consistently gives me moist sponge with tender crumb.
No butter cream cheese frosting
This cream cheese frosting is a favourite with my children. It’s not too sweet and not too heavy since it’s basically a combination of cream cheese, double cream (whipping cream with at least 36% fat content in the US), icing sugar and flavourings of your choice. For this cranberry cake I flavoured my frosting with the juice of one clementine and 1 tablespoon of Cointreau, an orange flavoured liqueur. If you don’t want to use orange liqueur, an equal quantity of orange extract will work as well. The method for this frosting is dead simple. Simply combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whip until stiff. Using an electric mixer or stand maker is the easiest way. In the US whipping cream is lower in fat than here in the UK, so I would recommend whipping the cream cheese with icing sugar lightly and whipping cream separately. Then fold the whipping cream into the cream cheese. This will prevent cream cheese from splitting. The silky buttercream is perfect for the sweetness of the cake and tartness of the cranberries. The fresh orange juice adds a lovely citrus twist to this sweet buttery cake!
Storage and leftovers
Once you have assembled the cake, store it in a refrigerator until you are ready to serve. It will store best in an airtight container, so this is a great excuse to buy a cake box! Take it out of the fridge 20 minutes before you plan to serve. Buttercream tends to be best at room temperature. As anyone who has held onto remains of wedding cake knows, cake freezes surprisingly well. To prevent mashing your lovely icing, give it a couple of hours in the freezer before covering in plastic wrap. The buttercream should be pretty solid. Defrost the cake on the counter or overnight in a fridge.
More Christmas cake recipes
Chocolate Truffle Cake Cranberry Orange Bread Frostbitten Raspberry Cake White Christmas Truffle Cake English Fridge Cake Raffaello Cheesecake
