Description
This cranberry orange cake is made with soft & moist white cake layers, a tart cranberry jam, a sweet orange curd, and a light mascarpone frosting.
Ingredients
Scale
For the white cake:
- 180g (1 ½ cups) cake flour
- 168g (¾ cup + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 76g (5 ½ tbsp) unsalted butter, room temp
- 65g (⅓ cup) neutral oil
- 113g (½ cup) plain whole milk greek yogurt, room temp
- 113g (½ cup) whole milk, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 2 egg whites
For the cranberry jam:
- 6 oz fresh or frozen cranberries
- 25g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar
- Zest of one orange
- ½ tbsp fresh orange juice
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
For the orange curd:
- 100g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 10g (1 tbsp) cornstarch
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 35g (2 ½ tbsp) unsalted butter
- 100g (½ cup) fresh orange juice
- 3 egg yolks
For the mascarpone frosting:
- 227g (1 cup) mascarpone, cold
- 227g (1 cup) heavy cream, cold
- 100g (½ cup) granulated sugar
Instructions
For the white cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease and line two 6 inch cake pans with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Cut up the butter into small cubes and add to the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed until it resembles wet sand.
- Add the oil, yogurt, milk, and vanilla, and mix until fully combined.
- In a small bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until medium peaks form.
- Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool completely before decorating.
For the cranberry jam:
- Add the cranberries, sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and salt to a medium saucepan.
- Heat over medium heat for 10-12 minutes stirring often until the cranberries start to break down.
- Reduce heat to low, and cook for another 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently until it has thickened.
- Remove from heat and use an immersion blender (or transfer to a blender) and blend until smooth.
- Pour into a glass jar to cool completely, then chill in the fridge until ready to use.
For the orange curd:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt until no lumps remain.
- In a medium saucepan over low-medium heat, melt the butter.
- Whisk in the sugar mixture, then the lemon juice and egg yolks until fully combined, about 1 minute.
- Use a rubber spatula to constantly stir the mixture for another 2-3 minutes or until large bubbles form in the center. Immediately remove from heat.
- Strain the lemon curd into a bowl. Press plastic wrap up against the surface to prevent a skin from forming, and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
For the mascarpone frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the mascarpone, heavy cream, and sugar.
- Whisk on low speed until combined and smooth, then turn up to medium-high speed until thick.
For assembly:
- Secure the first layer of cake on the cake stand with a small amount of frosting.
- Transfer some of the frosting to a piping bag, then pipe a dam around the edge of the cake. Spread a thin layer of cranberry jam in the center.
- Pipe another layer of frosting around the edge, then spread a thin layer of orange curd in the center.
- Place the second cake layer on top, and over the whole cake in a thin layer of frosting for the crumb coat.
- Place in the fridge for about 15 minutes, then frost the cake as desired.
- Decorate the cake with orange slices, cranberries, and rosemary, if desired.
Notes
- Break up the elements over two days. The cake and the fillings all need time to cool down, so I recommend making each of them the day before, then make the frosting & assemble the next day.
- Use cake strips. To ensure the cake layers bake up evenly & flat, use cake strips! They also prevent the outside of the cake from turning brown. As you can see my cake layers do have a brown crust because I did not use cake strips. They're still just as delicious, just not perfectly white like in this small vanilla cake recipe.
- Don't over-mix the frosting! Just like whipped cream, mascarpone frosting reaches medium peaks very quickly and can easily become grainy if over-mixed.
Keywords: cranberry orange cake, orange curd, cranberry jam, mascarpone frosting