White Chocolate–Cranberry Cake

Name: White Chocolate–Cranberry Cake
Total time: 2 hours
Yield: 10-12 servings
Ingredients: 1 large orange; 8 oz. fresh or frozen cranberries; ¾ cup plus ⅓ cup (217 g) sugar; 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter; 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract; ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt; Nonstick vegetable oil spray or unsalted butter, room temperature (for pan); 2 cups plus 3 Tbsp. (250 g) bleached cake flour; 1½ cups (300 g) sugar; 2 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt; 1½ tsp. baking powder; ½ tsp. baking soda; ½ cup vegetable oil; 6 Tbsp. (¾ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature; 1 cup buttermilk; 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract; 3 large eggs; 12 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped; 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature; 10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature; Kosher salt; 1 large orange (optional); A pastry bag and a ¼"-diameter or other medium round tip

By Shilpa Uskokovic

October 21, 2025

A slice of a twolayer white chocolate frosted cake sits alongside the full cake topped with cranberry jam sugared...

Photograph by Lucia Bell-Epstein, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, and Prop Styling by Erica Lutz

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If anyone still needs convincing that cake is better than pie, this is the one that might flip the jury. With the tang of buttermilk and a suggestion of fresh orange in the batter, a claret-red cranberry jam so good you’ll want it on toast, and a white chocolate frosting that is unusual in its technique, it is a cake that’s equal parts impressive and achievable.

The sugared cranberries taste like top-of-the-line sour candy—they’re a topping, but the recipe is worth making for these little jewels alone. Use a good white chocolate for the smoothest, silkiest frosting. Bars of eating-quality chocolate will outperform chips and chunks. And ensure your cream cheese and butter are very soft so there are no lumps.

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