Lemon, Cranberry & White Chocolate Cake
In this week’s instalment of Christmas baking, I’m sharing a recipe for a lemon, cranberry and white chocolate cake. If you love white chocolate, this is the perfect cake for you!
This cake is contains a lemon curd filling, but you can substitute in any other fillings you might prefer – lemon buttercream, cranberry filling or even more white chocolate ganache.
I had some difficulties with the ganache, as white chocolate is quite different to milk/dark chocolate. There’s almost no cocoa solids in white chocolate, so it works differently to normal chocolate. The ganache wasn’t quite as firm as I would’ve liked, so when I spread it onto the cake, most of it ended up on the plate than the cake itself! I’ve adjusted the recipe slightly so that the ganache should set firmer (and also quicker!)
The recipe below is for a 6″ round layer cake. I’ve found a very useful page that helps you easily convert recipes here.
- 240g plain flour
- 80g unsalted butter
- 280g caster sugar
- 1tbsp baking powder
- 1½tsp lemon zest
- 240ml whole milk
- 2 eggs
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 100g cranberries (tossed in 1tbsp plain flour)
- Lemon curd - however much you fancy!
- 345 white chocolate
- 115g double cream
- A few extra cranberries to decorate
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
- Line and grease two 6" round tins with butter
- Mix together butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and lemon zest
- Add eggs and vanilla extract to milk, whisking together until combined
- Slowly pour milk mixture into butter mixture until fully combined
- Split mixture in half, across both tins. Add cranberries to each tin, making sure they are evenly distributed (don't forget to toss the cranberries in flour first!)
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until cake is golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, trim the cake to make it even.
- Place one cake onto a cake board or plate, add a layer of lemon curd and place the other cake on top.
- Place a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water (make sure it doesn't touch the water) and melt the white chocolate
- Once melted, add double cream and mix together
- Leave to set in fridge, until firm enough to smooth onto the cake
- Cover the cake in the ganache, pipe if you wish! Finish with a few extra cranberries around the outside of the cake
- Tossing the cranberries in plain flour will prevent them all sinking to the bottom of the cake
You went with the lemon curd then, it looks lush! X