½cupcitrus juiceUse the juice from the oranges and lemons you are zesting for the frosting. Set aside orange juice for frosting first. If you do not have enough for a full ½ cup, supplement with water
1tablespooncornstarch
½teaspoonvanilla extract
pinchof salt
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
4ouncescream cheeseroom temperature
1 ½cupsbutter
3tablespoonsorange zest
1 ½tablespoonslemon zest
1teaspoonvanilla
½teaspoonsalt
4-5tablespoonsorange juicefresh (see notes)
9cupspowder sugarsifted
Instructions
Brown Sugar Cake:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare your cake pans, take two 8-inch round pans, grease your cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
In a small bowl mix together your sour cream or Greek yogurt and baking soda. Set aside
In a separate bowl beat your butter and sugar together for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add your eggs one at a time, beating each egg into the mixture thoroughly before adding the next. Add in your salt, beat until mixed in.
Alternate adding in your flour and sour cream mixture—add ⅓ of your flour mixture and then ⅓ of your sour cream mixture. Continue doing this until the flour and sour cream mixture is gone.
Your batter should be smooth with no lumps. Divide your batter into your tow pans. Bake for about 50 minutes until the cakes are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let your cakes cool for about 30 minutes before removing the cakes from their pans. Let cool completely leveling off the top of your cakes and assembling.
Cranberry Compote:
in a medium saucepan over medium add your cranberries, sugar, and citrus juice. Stir your mixture until the sugar dissolves, let the mixture heat and cranberries start soften.
Use your wooden spoon and start mash the cranberries as they soften. Remove a few tablespoons of warm liquid and add them to bowl and whisk in your cornstarch. This is to ensure you have not lumps of cornstarch in your mixture. Then add your cornstarch slurry back into the saucepan.
Let mixture simmer for 5-10 minutes until you have a thick jam-like mixture. Stir in your vanilla and salt and transfer to a bowl. Cover and let cool completely in the refrigerator.
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting:
Beat cream cheese until fluffy, add in butter and cream together until fluffy and smooth.
Add in orange zest, lemon zest, vanilla, and salt. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.
Add half of the orange juice and half of the powdered sugar. Beat until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remaining orange juice and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy.
Cake Assembly:
If your cakes have domed in the middle, cut off the tops so that they are completely flat. The slice each cake in half horizontally so that you have 4 cake rounds.
Take a little bit of frosting and dab it on your plate or cake board, then place your first cake layer down—the frosting will help the cake adhere to board or plate.
Then take your orange frosting and spread a thing layer over top of the first cake round. Pipe a rim of frosting around the edge of the cake round so that when you add your cranberry compote it won’t spill out. Then take ⅓ of the cranberry compote and spread it evenly over the top of your first cake layer. Repeat with the next two layers. Place your last cake layer crumb side down, with the bottom of the pan side on to —this will help your get a smooth layer on top.
Apply a crumb coat—Take your frosting and spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake and then refrigerate for an hour or freeze for 20 minutes. This will help catch any crumbs and prevent them from showing through when you apply your last frosting coat.
Remove your cake from the fridge/freezer and apply your second coating of frosting. Then apply your frosting. I like to use a cake scraper—holding it straight up and down against the cake, scrape the frosting so that its smooth and even around the cake.
Notes
Frosting: start by only adding 4 tablespoons of orange juice, if needed, you can add an additional tablespoon