Christmas Chocolate Cake with Cranberries

Your guests will not be able to resist this Christmas chocolate cake filled with cranberry compote and frosted with whipped chocolate ganache! This cake is a showstopper! 

Exciting news! My first holiday cake of the season is here!

This chocolate layer cake filled with cranberry and port compote is absolutely irresistible. 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.

How do I make a moist chocolate cake?

The recipe I use for the majority of my chocolate cake 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 and bake it at the recommended temperature and don’t overbake 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 icing and come up with so many different cakes. Your friends and family will not stop praising you for your creativity!

Cake decorating ideas

For those of you who is comfortable with a piping bag, use it to your advantage as it always give 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!

• 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!

Christmas Chocolate Cake with Cranberries

This Christmas Chocolate Cake is a showstopper. Filled with cranberry compote and frosted with whipped chocolate ganache, it is irresistible!

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Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Cake Assemble Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Keyword: christmas chocolate cake

Author: Julia Frey of Vikalinka

Ingredients

For the sugared cranberries

• 1/2 cup/50 g fresh cranberries
• 1/4 cup/ 70 ml water
• 1/2 cup/ 50 g granulated sugar divided

For the cake

• 1 3/4 cup/220 ml all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup/90 g cocoa powder
• 2 cups/400 g granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs large
• 1 cup/250 ml whole milk
• 1/2 cup/125 ml vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla

For the cranberry compote

• 2 1/2 cups/300 g cranberries fresh or frozen
• 1/2 cup/ 100 g granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 4 tbsp Port

For the whipped ganache

• 16 oz/500g good quality dark chocolate chopped
• 2 cups + 2 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. 

  * I used Wilton 1M closed star tip to decorate

Notes

I recommend using the whipped ganache soon after it was whipped as it tends to harden, which will make it impossible to use a piping bag. 

Tried this recipe?Mention @vikalinka or tag #vikalinka!