To Make the Cranberry Filling/Topping:

1. Place the cranberries, granulated, and kosher salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir to combine.
2. Simmer the mixture over medium heat until the sugar begins to reduce and the cranberries are 50% softened.
3. Place the water/orange liqueur and cornstarch in a small bowl and stir to combine. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the cranberry mixture and increase the heat to medium high for one minute.
4. After about one minute (or when the mixture visibly starts to thicken(, remove 1 cup of the cranberry mixture from the pot into a small heatproof bowl.
5. Using an immersion blender, carefully blend the remaining cranberries in the pot. You’ll need to blend these completely in order to get a smooth filling.
6. Once you’ve blended the cranberries, place a fine mesh strainer over a second, medium-sized heatproof bowl. Carefully strain the blended cranberries through the fine mesh strainer to remove any cranberry seeds.
7. Place both the filling and the topping aside to cool completely.

To Make the Cake:

1. Set your oven to a true 325°F.  An oven thermometer is very useful to help you determine whether your oven is at the correct temperature.
2. Combine the sugar, vanilla beans (if using) and lemon zest in a medium bowl or deli cup.  Use your fingers to scrunch the combination together (or, alternatively, put the top on the deli cup and shake away!) until the mixture is combined.  The sugar will get clumpy from the release of the oils in the lemon zest, and that is a great thing!
3. Add the sour cream and lemon juice to a small bowl or deli cup.  Stir to combine.
4. Sift cake flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and kosher salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
5. Add room-temperature butter and oil to a large mixing bowl, or to the bowl of a stand mixer.  Mix until combined.  Add the sugar/vanilla/lemon mixture and cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl regularly to ensure even mixing.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the next egg only once the previous egg has been fully incorporated.
7. Add the pure vanilla extract (if using) and mix thoroughly to combine.  Scrape the bowl regularly to ensure even mixing.
8. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until nearly combined.
9. Add all of the sour cream/lemon juice mixture and mix until nearly combined.
10. Add the other half of the flour mixture and mix until nearly combined.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then gently fold the mixture together until it is fully combined.
11. Prep three 8” cake pans (I use butter and flour to do this).  Fill each cake pan with 1/3 of the batter.
12. Bake for 20-27 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 205°F in the center of the cakes.
13. Allow the cakes to cool on cooling racks for 5-7 minutes, then turn place the cakes onto cooling racks to finish cooling.

To Make the Cranberry Buttercream:

1. Place the room-temperature butter into a mixing bowl. Blend on medium speed until it is completely smooth. Scrape the bowl as needed to make sure that all of the butter is getting equally smooth.
2. Add the fine sea salt and about one cup of the confectioner’s sugar to the butter. Mix on lowest speed until the confectioner’s sugar is completely incorporated, then mix on medium speed for about ten seconds.
3. Add another cup of the confectioner’s sugar to the mix. Mix on lowest speed until the confectioner’s sugar is completely incorporated, then mix on medium speed for about ten seconds. After this confectioner’s sugar addition, scrape your bowl thoroughly to ensure that all of the butter and confectioner’s sugar is incorporated before going onto the next step.
4. Repeat step three, then add four tablespoons of the cranberry filling mixture, the pure vanilla extract, and one tablespoon of heavy cream to the frosting. Mix on low speed until the liquids are combined, then mix on medium speed for about ten seconds.
5. Repeat step 3 until you’ve finished adding the confectioner’s sugar. After all of the confectioner’s sugar has been added, mix on medium-high speed for about two minutes, scraping the bowl as necessary to make sure that everything gets mixed in equally. At this point, check the texture of the buttercream. The final buttercream should be smooth but pipeable, and it should not be difficult to move your spatula through the buttercream.

To Make the White Chocolate Ganache:

1. Place the white chocolate chips into a medium-sized heat proof bowl.
2. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan on medium heat just until you begin to see heat waves over the top of the heavy cream. You don’t want it to boil!
3. Pour the heavy cream over the white chocolate chips and tightly cover with plastic wrap.
4. Wait for 5-7 minutes, then gently stir the mixture together. The mixture will gradually smooth out as you stir; however, don’t stir too aggressively or you’ll create bubbles in your ganache.
5. Once smooth, allow the ganache to cool for 5-7 minutes before placing it into a squeeze bottle and creating your ganache drip down the size. This recipe makes plenty of ganache, so you can cover the entire cake with the ganache, or you can drizzle around the sides of the cake. Additionally, you can drizzle ganache over pieces of the cake after cutting!

To Build the Cake:

1. Place a 10” cake board on a decorating turntable. Place a small pat of cranberry buttercream on the cake board, then place the first cake layer on the center of the cake board.
2. Atop the first cake layer, smooth 2-3 ice cream scoops of cranberry buttercream. Use a spatula to evenly spread the buttercream, then create a circular “moat” about 1.5” from the edges of the cake. Place cranberry filling into the center of the cake, then smooth towards the inner edge of the buttercream moat.
3. Gently place the next cake layer on top of the first. Check to make sure that the cake layer is level, then repeat step 2.
4. Invert the third layer to make sure that there’s a level top layer, and place the upside-down layer atop the other two layers. Place a small amount of buttercream on top of the final layer, evenly spread the buttercream around the sides of the cake. This is the crumb coat of your cake.
5. For smooth buttercream, place the crumb coated cake into the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes. Allow the rest of the buttercream to remain at room temperature while the crumb coat stiffens onto the cake.
6. Place a generous amount of buttercream directly onto the sides of the cake. Using a decorating spatula, begin to smooth the buttercream. As you go around the cake, buttercream will come off; this is normal! You’ve added much more than you need.
7. Finish smoothing with a cake smoother, turning the cake several times to get the smoothest buttercream possible.
8. Place the remaining buttercream in a piping bag and set aside,
9. Place the white chocolate ganache over the sides of the cake. There is plenty of ganache, so you can either coat the entire cake with a white chocolate ganache layer, or you can just drizzle it over the sides.
10. Once the white chocolate ganache is on the cake, allow it to set for 10-15 minutes. Then, pipe the buttercream butter around the edge of the cake.
11. Finish the cake by gently filling in the border with the cranberry topping. Enjoy!