Your guests will not be able to resist this Christmas chocolate cake filled with cranberry compote and frosted with whipped chocolate ganache! This perfectly moist chocolate cake is a showstopper!
For another easy but gorgeous Christmas dessert take a look at my White Christmas Truffle Cake.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through our links, we may earn a commission.
I’ll always love a big, beautiful cake when the holidays come around. It’s the perfect time to bring out the best, most luxurious baking we can and to decorate to the gills!
There’s not much that can beat a rich, moist chocolate cake and I love to use Christmas as an excuse to indulge my chocolate cravings. I hope you find this cake as delicious and festive as I do!
Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache
Does chocolate on chocolate sound too much for a cake? Didn’t think so! Layering the two together is absolutely amazing!
This dark chocolate layer cake filled with cranberry and port compote is absolutely irresistible. It has rich chocolate cake layers gently wrapped in whipped chocolate ganache, then decorated with sparkling cranberries.
It sounds somewhat complex but only on paper or should I say on screen…because in reality it’s astonishingly simple!
First let’s start with the chocolate cake itself, then let’s look at the perfect chocolate cake filling.
Making a moist chocolate cake
The recipe I use for the majority of my chocolate cakes is the one I am sharing today. It’s the simplest of recipes that delivers the best results.
What makes this chocolate cake so simple is that it’s all made in one bowl. And what makes it so moist is vegetable oil and whole milk. Simple.
Just make sure you follow the recipe, bake the batter at the recommended temperature and don’t over-bake it. Keeping cake in the oven longer than needed dries it out!
It’s important to master a basic chocolate recipe as you can use it in a variety of ways. Remember that a good chocolate cake is simply a blank canvas for so much more.
You can change up the fillings and the frosting and come up with so many different cakes. Your friends and family will not stop praising you for your creativity!
Cranberry compote
Compote is something I grew up making and feel very passionate about. It’s made of fruit that has been cooked in sugar syrup, usually with added flavourings.
As you can imagine, it’s pretty sweet and although it traditionally could be served on it’s own as a dessert, I’m a fan of using it to glaze meat like ham or in cake layers as I have done here.
Although compote can be made with a huge range of fruit, cranberry works especially well as the tartness serves as a compliment to the sweetness of the sugar.
Compote can be made with all sorts of other flavours added, such as vanilla, orange peel or cinnamon sticks. I’ve kept mine very simple – and seasonal – by only adding a few tablespoons of Port, which we always buy for Christmas.
It’s a fantastic chocolate cake filling, especially with this rich, moist chocolate cake. I’ve combined it with dark chocolate ganache as the perfect balance between rich and fruity.
Using compote as a chocolate cake filling is far from the only way to use cranberry compote. Use any you have spare, or make a little extra, to serve with oatmeal, drizzled on ice cream, on toast or even to accompany a cheese platter.
Easy cake decorating ideas
For those of you who are comfortable with a piping bag, use it to your advantage as it always gives a cake an air of sophistication and professionalism.
If you don’t like using a piping bag, there are hundreds of ideas for decoration that will make your cake look gorgeous! Here are a few ideas from my own recipes:
- chocolate truffles like I did in my Black and White Cake
- edible gold leaf in Chocolate Truffle Cake
- berries and fruit in Frostbitten Raspberry Cake
- chocolate figurines in Malted Chocolate Cake
- flowers and dried rose petals in Naked Cake
- herbs in Rose Rhubarb Cake
- greenery and sprinkles in White Christmas Truffle Cake
For my Christmas Chocolate Cake I used sugared cranberries to add a festive touch. They are so easy and quick to make and they look gorgeous!
You can use leftover sugared cranberries to decorate your festive cocktails or as candy. My kids loved them!
Recipe tips and notes
- A main reason why baking cake sponges fails is because the oven temperature is not what it should be. Ovens are not perfectly accurate, and can in some cases be wildly off with temperature. This does not make for good baking conditions!
- I always recommend that an This is an affiliate link.oven thermometer is used to make sure that you are baking at the right temperature. Take a look before the cake pans are put in the oven to make sure the temperature is what you expect it to be!
- I’ve optimised this recipe for using 8-inch cake pans. If you plan to use 9-inch cake pans, expect them to bake a few minutes faster and result in thinner layers.
- Port is a fortified wine from Portugal that is luxuriously flavoured with black cherry and plum. I love to have a bottle around when the Christmas season begins, but if you would rather not pick one up yourself, a bold red wine can be used instead. You’ll only need a small amount for the cranberry compote.
- Quality chocolate will go a long way when it comes to making the best chocolate cake, and especially the ganache recipe, so use the best quality dark chocolate you can afford.
- Avoid using milk chocolate as pure dark chocolate is needed for ganache. And don’t use semi-sweet chocolate chips, which are often not as pure as you’d want.
- I recommend using the whipped ganache quickly after it is whipped as it tends to harden. If it does, it will make it impossible to use a piping bag. I used an This is an affiliate link.offset spatula and This is an affiliate link.Wilton 1M closed star tip to decorate.
- Let the cake cool completely before adding the ganache. Otherwise it will melt as it comes into contact with the cake. Use a wire rack for cooling the cake layers.
Serving suggestions
I’m all for making things as easy as possible when it’s time for a big dinner, which means making as much as possible ahead of time. Of course, this doesn’t work well for everything, but it can with cakes.
I believe it’s best to make the cake layers in advance and freeze them until I’m ready to assemble the cake. This will keep them fresh and spread out the labour that goes into the cake. Thaw the layers and assemble when the big day arrives.
Storage and leftovers
Once you have assembled the cake, store it in a refrigerator in an airtight container or under plastic wrap until you are ready to serve. A cake box is ideal for this! Take the cake out of the fridge 30 minutes before it’s time to serve.
The cake will freeze very well. To prevent messing up your lovely decoration, let it sit for a couple of hours in the freezer before covering in plastic wrap. The ganache will become firmer and will hold its shape better this way.
More stunning chocolate cake recipes
Christmas Chocolate Ganache Cake with Cranberries
Ingredients
For the sugared cranberries
- ½ cup cup/50 g fresh cranberries
- ¼ cup /70 ml water
- ½ cup / 50 g granulated sugar divided
For the cake
- 1 ¾ cup /220 g all purpose flour
- ¾ cup /90 g cocoa powder
- 2 cups /400 g granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs large
- 1 cup /250 ml whole milk
- ½ cup /125 ml vegetable oil
- 2 tsp This is an affiliate link.vanilla
For the cranberry compote
- 2 ½ cups /300g cranberries fresh or frozen
- ½ cup /100g granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 4 tbsp Port
For the whipped ganache
- 16 oz /500g good quality dark chocolate chopped
- 2 cups cups +tbsp/500ml heavy cream/double cream
Instructions
For the sugared cranberries
- Combine half the sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Take off the heat and add the cranberries, shake the pan gently until the cranberries are well coated in the syrup. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and lay them out on a wire rack to dry for one hour. Then toss them with the remaining sugar.
For the cake
- Preheat your oven to 350 F/180 C, butter and line 3 8″/20cm cake pans with parchment paper or spray with a cake release spray.
- Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl until combined. In a separate bowl mix eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and beat with an electric mixer until well incorporated.
- Divide evenly among 3 pans and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Bake 2 layers together and then the third one later if your oven isn’t big enough to fit three cake pans.
- Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove cakes from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.
For the cranberry compote
- In a small saucepan combine the cranberries, sugar, water and port and cook on low heat until the mixture thickens and coats a spoon for about 10 minutes. Cool slightly and process in a food processor or blender until smooth. Set aside until needed. Alternatively, you can leave the cranberry compote chunky if you wish.
For the whipped ganache
- Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan but take it off the heat right before it boils and pour over chopped dark chocolate. Let it sit for 1-2 minutes then stir with a whisk until well blended.
- Let the ganache cool, then whip with an electric mixer until it’s the consistency of a buttercream and paler in colour. (The ganache will not whip when it’s still warm. It needs to be slightly chilled to whip properly.)
To assemble the cake
- Pipe a border of the whipped ganache around each cake layer and fill with the cranberry compote as shown in photos, stack on top of each other and cover the top and the sides with a thin layer of the whipped ganache. Let it chill for 15 minutes. Then cover with more ganache or pipe rosettes all over and decorate with sugared cranberries. Store the assembled cake in the refrigerator but take it out 30 minutes before serving to allow the cake and the ganache come to a room temperature for fuller flavour and desired consistency.
