Orange Chocolate Cake with Pistachios, Cranberry Filling, and White Chocolate Buttercream
This delicious fall and winter cake features a beautiful orange and chocolate sponge, layered with salted pistachios and a cinnamon orange cranberry filling. Then, it's finished with a light and sweet white chocolate buttercream.
1½wholeeggs (this measurement is tough, but just try your best)
1tbspfresh orange zest
1cuproom temperature 1% or 2% milk
½cupfreshly squeezed orange juice
Cranberry & Pistachio Filling
½cupsalted pistachios
½cancranberry sauce, jellied
½tbsporange zest, or more to taste
¼tspcinnamon, or more to taste
White Chocolate Buttercream
1⅓cupwhite chocolate chips
1½cupsroom temperature butter
3cupspowdered sugar
1tspvanilla
splashroom temperature milk, if needed
pinchsalt, if needed
Instructions
Orange Chocolate Cake
Thoroughly apply cold butter to the entire inside of your cake pans. Then, add some flour, and shake it around until all the butter is coated with flour. Tap out the excess and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa. Set aside.
In the bowl of your mixer, use the whisk attachment(s) to cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes, or until it is light and fluffy. Then, slowly pour in the eggs, and then the zest, and mix until all is incorporated.
Add your milk and orange juice to the measuring cup with a pour spout. Then, in three additions, alternate adding flour and the liquids to the creamed butter and sugar, mixing each time with your spatula, until all of the batter is combined.
Pour the batter evenly into your cake pans and bake for 42 minutes. Before removing them from the oven, insert a toothpick into the middle to check for doneness.
Let the cakes cool for only a few minutes in their pans on a wire rack, before turning them out to come to room temperature. Once they've reached room temperature, double wrap the cakes tightly in cling film and freeze until you're ready to assemble the cake.
Cranberry & Pistachio Filling
With a sharp chef's knife, roughly chop your salted pistachios, if they are whole. Dump them on an ungreased baking sheet and pop them in the oven to roast for 5-10 minutes, watching carefully so they don't burn. Let them cool. (Don't roast them at the same time as baking your cakes, as the constant opening and closing of the oven releases heat which can interfere with the rise of your cake, and cause it to sink.)
Spoon the cranberry jelly into a microwave-safe bowl, and heat for 10-20 seconds, just until you can start to stir it together more easily. However, don't melt it. Stir in the orange zest and cinnamon, taste, and adjust to your liking. Set aside.
White Chocolate Buttercream
Heat your white chocolate chips in the microwave, in thirty-second intervals, stirring in between each, until there are no more lumps. It's crucial that you fully melt the chocolate. Then, let it cool.
Beat the butter for 4-5 minutes until it's light and fluffy. Then, incorporate one cup of powdered sugar at a time, scraping down the sides in between each addition.
Then, after making sure the melted chocolate is NOT hot, drizzle it into your running mixer. Beat the mixture together thoroughly for a few minutes. Then, add your vanilla. Taste test, and, if the buttercream is too sweet for your liking, add a pinch of salt. Also, if your buttercream is too heavy and thick, you can add a tablespoon or two of milk to lighten it up. I didn't need to use any milk, however, it may depend on how you measured your powdered sugar. Tip: You need your buttercream to be room temperature when you add the white chocolate. The buttercream should be room temperature anyway, however, it's important to note that you cannot add the white chocolate to buttercream that is coming out of the fridge, as too cold buttercream will cause the chocolate to clump up. I made this mistake the first time I created this recipe, and it made the decorating process difficult, as I couldn't get a smooth finish on the cake. If this does happen to you, instead of scrapping the whole batch, you can use a spatula to press the buttercream through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the clumps of white chocolate. However, if you follow the directions above, noting the temperatures of your ingredients carefully, you should have nothing to worry about. :)
Assembly and Decoration
Once your cakes are fully cooled, level off the tops.
Place your first layer down on a bit of frosting to secure it in place. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge to create a "dam," in which you'll spoon out the cranberry filling. Top that with a thin layer of buttercream and a generous helping of the pistachios.
Invert your second cake layer, and place it atop your cake.
Using a piping bag or spatula, cover the surface of the cake with your "main" color of buttercream. With sweeping motions, smooth the top of the cake first, pushing the buttercream over the edge. Then, use your straight bench scraper to smooth the edges. Set the cake in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes to firm up.
Next, smooth a second layer of the same color buttercream over top with your spatula. Using the textured edge of your cake comb, scrape around the edges in the same manner as with the straight scraper, removing stripes of the buttercream. Wipe your scraper, and continue until the stripes are smooth. Place the cake back in the refrigerator again to let this layer firm up.
Using as many colors as you prefer, and a piping bag fitted with a small round tip, carefully pipe buttercream into the ridges we created with the cake comb. Then, use the straight edge of a cake scraper to smooth down the sides. Apply more pressure to remove the excess color and reveal clean, sharp lines.
To add a chic painted design, add a few drops of clear alcohol to your gold luster dust. Mix it together and use it like paint! Make sure your buttercream is chilled before "painting" on it.
Then, use a toothpick to outline a cute design or words. This way, if you mess up terribly, you can re-smooth the cake out! Pipe over the outline marks with a small, round tip.