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white chocolate cranberry dessert casserole

white chocolate cranberry dessert casserole

Layers of vanilla cake, white chocolate mousse, and a tart cranberry compote swirl will have your dinner guests asking for dessert before dinner!

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cake, casserole, coconut cream, cranberry, cranberry sauce, white chocolate
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
chilling 12 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 8 to 10
Author Lauren Toyota

Ingredients

vanilla cake layer

  • 1/2 C soy milk
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 C all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/8 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

cranberry compote swirl

  • 3 C frozen cranberries
  • 1 C sugar
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • 1/3 C fresh squeezed orange juice

white chocolate mousse

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Make the cake layer first by combining the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a bowl. Set aside to thicken for about 10 minutes.

  3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt in a 10" x 8" baking dish (which you'll bake the cake layer in).

  4. Add sugar, oil, and vanilla to the milk and vinegar mixture and stir until well combined.

  5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula in the baking dish until well combined. Spread into an even layer. The spatula can help clean the sides of the baking dish and keep all the cake in one even layer.
  6. Bake for 16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  7. While the cake is baking, you can make the cranberry compote swirl. To make the cranberry compote, heat a saucepan over medium heat with all the ingredients for the cranberry compote and bring to a boil. This takes about 7 to 8 minutes.

  8. Let the mixture continue to bubble and reduce for 10 more minutes. Turn heat down if it's splashing or burning. It should be reduced by about half and the liquid is still present but slightly thicker. Allow this to cool completely.

  9. To start the white chocolate mousse, over a double boiler melt the cacao butter completely. Once melted, whisk in 1 cup of canned coconut cream, soy milk powder, and agave nectar.

  10. Turn off the heat and remove the bowl once it's mostly combined. Continue whisking until completely smooth and melted together off the heat.

  11. Place this bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes until the mixture is thicker and completely cooled. A soft butter texture should form around the edges and the entire thing should have thick caramel in consistency, without being entirely hard or solid. You have to freeze this mixture and mind the time because it’s all about how quickly the cacao butter cools. Do not leave unattended. Set a timer!

  12. Only once the white chocolate cream is at the right consistency and chilled, you can whip together the 3 cups of chilled canned coconut cream in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer in a cold glass bowl. Once the whip cream is fluffy and smooth, add in confectioners sugar slowly while whipping. Turn up the speed to get it fluffier.

  13. Once the coconut whip is thicker and fluffier, add the chilled white chocolate cream while the mixer is beating on medium high. Continue to mix until well incorporated and very smooth and fluffy.
  14. Refrigerate this mixture while the the cranberry mixture and cake layer cools completely. Do not assemble this while anything is still warm. Do not let the white chocolate mousse sit overnight. You should be able to assemble this within an hour.

  15. To assemble the dessert casserole, add dollops of white chocolate mousse on top of the cake layer in the casserole dish. Dollop large spoonfuls of the cranberry compote onto the mousse, and you can push it into the mousse a little too. Then dollop the remaining white chocolate mousse and then the cranberry compote. Take the end of your spoon or the spatula and swirl it around until you get a pattern you like and the cranberry compote is swirled and interspersed into the mousse layer. Watch the video to see exactly how I did it!

  16. I like this refrigerated for at least 12 hours before serving, but it’s more of a personal preference. You could serve it immediately but the mousse will be a bit more loose when you scoop it out and serve, however it’s still very delicious!

  17. To serve, take a large spoon and carve out portions of the cake and mousse together in your desired serving size. If you’ve refrigerated it longer, it will generally hold it’s shape so you can see the cake layer and the mousse layer, but the mousse shouldn’t be completely solid.