This Cranberry Orange Layer Cake is an orange scented cake filled with dried cranberries and frosted with an orange cranberry buttercream.

So I had not made American buttercream in awhile.

I’m usually a Swiss meringue buttercream girl but I don’t always have a ton of eggs to use in the house.

Also, I tend to use the Swiss meringue buttercream because it’s less sweet.

But with this Cranberry Orange Layer Cake using the tart cranberries, I wanted to go a little sweeter.

Anyway, I forgot how hard it is to frost with American buttercream when it’s cold in the house.

See our house is cold.

Year round.

In the summer we blast our four portable air conditioners (most Seattle are homes do not have central a/c).

And in winter we hardly turn on the heat.

Why?

The dogs.

Dogs with heart conditions do much better in the cooler temperatures.

And so we keep our house in the winter at about 58-60F.

Bundle up when you come over. 🙂

Summer we can’t keep it that cold because the a/c units can’t keep up with that but we do keep it at about 63F.

In summer people are confused when I come to the door in sweatshirts and hats. 🙂

At least in winter people just think we are cheap and don’t want to turn on the heat. 😛

I did not however take that into consideration when frosting this cake.

Because this frosting and my cold house were not friends.

At all.

I had not used bad language at a bake good in a while.

Until this cake.

It’s not the cake’s fault or the frosting’s fault.

People who live in normal temperature houses will have no issue in making and frosting this cake.

But me?

I struggled.

The frosting kept setting up as I tried to frost.

I didn’t even need to do a crumb coat in the fridge because my first coat was already set before I even finished it. 😀

This cake uses both freeze dried cranberries and cranberry juice powder.

I use the cranberry juice powder in my smoothies and realized that it would be great in frosting and baked goods.

And it is.

If you don’t want to buy the powder you can make your own by taking the freeze dried cranberries and crushing them finely.

You can either do that by using a rolling pin or put into a food processor.

The advantage of the freeze dried and the powder in cake is that it does not add moisture to the cake.

And therefore does not interfere with how the bake of the cake goes.

Same thing with frosting.

If I were to use fresh cranberries I could not get the flavor needed without a wet mess of a frosting.

And as always it’s a great day to order my cookbook.

Want More Cranberry and Orange?

Cranberry Orange Jell-O Shots

Orange Blossom Honey Pistachio Cranberry Sticky Buns

Cranberry Orange Pistachio Cookies

White Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake with Satsuma Caramel Sauce

Cranberry Orange Spice Bundt Cake