White Christmas Cake with Cranberry Orange Filling and Whipped White Chocolate Ganache Frosting
This White Christmas Cake with Cranberry Orange Filling and Whipped White Chocolate Ganache Frosting is the BEST-EVER cake for the holidays! It's sweet and delicious with lots of cranberry and orange flavors throughout, plus the addition of white chocolate...SO. GOOD.
Servings: 8 slices
Calories: 857kcal
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 large egg whites room temperature
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla powder
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup whole milk
Filling
- 3 cups fresh cranberries
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2½ Tablespoons fresh orange juice
- ¾ teaspoon orange zest
- 2 Tablespoons orange liqueur
Frosting
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup white chocolate
Instructions
Frosting
- Place white chocolate pieces in a medium bowl.
- Heat cream until it is just starting to bubble around the edges.
- Pour hot cream over chocolate.
- Let stand until chocolate has melted, 10-15 minutes.
- Stir gently to combine.
- Cover with plastic wrap, making sure it touches the surface of the liquid.
- Refrigerate overnight, or until completely chilled through.
- Remove from refrigerator.
- Beat mixture until medium stiff peaks form.
- Refrigerate until needed.
Cake
- Heat oven to 350℉/177℃.
- Spray three 6-inch pans with baking spray. Set aside.
- Whip egg whites to stiff peaks. Set aside.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and vanilla powder. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer, beat shortening and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
- Fold in egg whites.
- Spoon into prepared pans.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until done.
- Allow to cool at least 10 minutes in pans before turning out.
- Turn out on wire rack and allow to cool completely.
Filling
- Combine cranberries, sugar, orange juice, and orange zest in a medium saucepan.
- Cook over medium low heat until cranberries pop and sauce thickens, about 5-6 minutes.
- Remove from heat.
- Stir in orange liqueur.
Assembly
- Level cake layers, if necessary.
- Place one layer on cake plate.
- Pipe a ring of frosting around the outer edge of layer.
- Fill with cranberry filling.
- Top with another cake layer.
- Repeat.
- Frost cake with remaining frosting.
Notes
Substitutions:
- If you don't have vanilla powder, you can use 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
- You can leave out the orange liqueur in the cranberry sauce.
- It's best to use fresh, but you can use store-bought orange juice.
- Butter can be used in place of shortening, but it won't really have the "snow-white" Christmas look once baked.
- You need to make the frosting first!
- Speaking of frosting, it needs to be really cold for it to whip!
- The frosting takes a little bit of time to whip, so don't worry. You can use a hand mixer with the whisk attachment or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment to achieve medium-stiff peaks.
- The shortening might be a little difficult to beat. Don't worry! Just scrape down the sides as needed and it will get soft and fluffy.
- Don't over-beat your egg whites! You don't want to dry them out.
- When folding the egg whites into the cake batter, be very careful. You don't want to deflate them, as this contributes to the rise of the cake.
- It's best to use piping bags for the filling and the frosting. It's cleaner and a whole lot easier.
- You can decorate this cake any way you want! Have fun with it.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 857kcal | Carbohydrates: 105g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 488mg | Potassium: 253mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 73g | Vitamin A: 963IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 195mg | Iron: 2mg