Ginger Tang Cake with Cranberry Cream (for a blog's 1st birthday!)

It's been a year since I joined the Daring Bakers club and started my blog. In this year, my kids have grown some, my job has stayed the same (a good thing), I've grown even happier, married my bestest friend and discovered a new love: baking!

I guess it's safe to say that I am no longer an anti-baker. That was probably a stupid thing to declare as someone that loves to cook and thinks about food as much as I do.

In honor of the blog birthday, I made this moist ginger cake with cranberry cream (which is basically curd, like lemon curd, but using cranberry) and I topped it with a fluffy white chocolate frosting flavored with Tang. Yum!!!
It was literally 100 degrees when I baked this cake so things were a bit on the sweaty and droopy side. Mostly me, but the cake suffered a little too. I picked the good photos so if I hadn't told you, you'd never know. But after a night in the fridge it had set up perfectly! So I know it was the heat's fault and not the baker's.

I started by making the cranberry cream, which is super easy. I colored mine a bit (probably a bit too much) with red gel coloring. This is totally optional. The original color was a cloudy pink.

This frosting is really wonderful. I used white chocolate and Tang powder, but you could use this recipe with any type of chocolate and any type of powdered drink mix. Imagine the possibilities!

This photo shows the technique I use for slicing cake in half for added layers. Place toothpicks just below half way up the side of the cake all the way around (you might want go a little closer together than I did-maybe every 3 or 4 inches). Use the toothpicks as a guide when you slice, using a long serrated knife.

This cake would also be really good, and a little easier, without the cranberry cream, without adding layers to the ginger cake and using the Tang frosting between 2 standard cake layers. This frosting recipe makes lots so you would have enough to do that if you so desired.

Cranberry Cream:
Make ahead. Needs to chill for a while. Adapted from a Dorie Greenspan Lemon Curd recipe.

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, in pieces
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup unsweetened cranberry juice

Whisk all ingredients together in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Stir pretty much constantly for up to 10 minutes until the sauce is thick like maple syrup. Do not overcook. Pour through a mesh basket into a bowl to strain lumps. Lay plastic wrap on the surface and chill completely. It will thicken when it's chilled.

Ginger Cake:
For true ginger lovers. Adapted from the Joy of Cooking.

Whisk together in a small bowl:
3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together in a large bowl:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
2 eggs

Add:
2/3 or up to 1 cup finely grated ginger (reserve juice out of any large stringy masses and discard the thready stuff)

Melt together and add to the ginger sugar mix:
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup orange juice

Add dry ingredients to the liquid and whisk just until it comes together. The batter will be thin.

Spray 2 cake pans with baking spray and line the bottoms with parchment. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until well set in the middle and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pans for a bit then remove and cool on wire racks after removing the parchment.

Fluffy Tang Frosting:
Adapted from Sweetapolita's Malted Belgian Chocolate Frosting.

Cream together:
4 sticks of unsalted butter
4 cups powdered sugar

Add and beat together:
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup Tang powder

Add and beat on medium high for several minutes:
8 ounces high quality melted white chocolate

Add and beat for one minute more or until very fluffy and smooth:
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Assemble as desired! I sliced my 2 cake layers in half and spread a thin layer of cranberry cream between each layer. After frosting the whole cake (including the top), I spread the leftover cranberry cream onto the top of the cake, then piped along the edge using a small flower tip.

A big thank you to my followers for a stupendous year! Enjoy your day!