Spiced Cranberry Chocolate Cake

1. 1

   ["For the cake, preheat oven to 350?F. Butter (or spray with nonstick cooking spray) 2 (9-inch) round cake pans, and line bottom with parchment paper. Sift together flour, 1 1/3 cups sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add oil, milk, egg and 3/4 teaspoon vanilla and stir to combine. Stir in 2/3 cup boiling water. Do not over mix. If you have 3 cake pans, put 1/3 of the batter into each pan and bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. OR, measure 1 cup of the batter and pour into one cake pan. Pour the remaining batter into the other pan. Bake at 350?F for 20-25minutes. Remove the smaller layer from the oven. Bake remaining layer for another 30-35 minutes. Cool all layers on a wire rack in the pans.", "Remove 1/4 cup cranberries from the bag and set aside. Bring 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Submerge reserved 1/4 cup cranberries in the liquid and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Remove cranberries with a slotted spoon. Transfer to a wire rack to dry for one hour. Make sure the cranberries are not touching, so that clumps of sugar don't appear. Place 1 teaspoon sugar in a shallow dish. Roll the cranberries in the sugar to coat. Then dry for another hour. Set aside for garnish

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   Add the rest of the cranberries, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves to the water/sugar mixture and bring to a boil. Stirring occasionally, cook until mixture starts to thicken, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in orange zest and set aside to cool. Mixture will thicken more as it cools.", "Soften the gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water for about 5 minutes in a microwave-safe dish. In a medium chilled bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Add 1 tablespoon powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. In a small bowl, cream together cream cheese and remaining 1 cup powdered sugar. Microwave gelatin until it dissolves and starts to bubble around the edges, around 30 seconds. Stir 1/2 of the dissolved gelatin into the cream cheese mixture and combine well. Stir the other 1/2 of the gelatin into the cranberry mixture and combine well. Make sure you integrate the gelatin thoroughly or you will have chunks of gelatin in your fillings! Fold 1/2 of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and save the rest for garnish. Put both fillings into the fridge for 1 hour.", "To assemble, place the smaller layer of cake on a cake plate (if you used 2 cake pans). Place the cranberry mixture over the cake. Cut the larger layer in half horizontally. Place the bottom half of the cake layer on top of the cranberries. Spread cream cheese filling over 2nd cake layer. Place remaining cake layer on top. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Top with whipped cream garnish and sugared cranberries. Refrigerate any leftover cake."]

* Per serving · 4 servings · Values may vary.

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