Sparkling Cranberries with White Chocolate Frosting

I love cranberries.  I even just love how festive they look.  I could decorate my house with bowls all season and be perfectly content.  However, they are just to bitter for me on their own and that is why I prefer them drenched and dusted in sugar and surrounded by super sweet goodness.  Then the tart bits of cranberries become completely delightful and not to overwhelming, in my opinion.  That is why I was so excited to make this recipe.  The cranberries on top are sugar covered and the white chocolate frosting and cake is super sweet to play with the tart.  Perfection.  Plus they just look festive, don’t they?

The sparkling cranberries are super easy.  In a small saucepan over medium heat combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water and stir until the sugar is dissolved. You really want it to be medium heat and not higher or the berries will burst when you put them in.  Stirring constantly. It should take about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and gently mix in the cranberries until evenly coated. Remove them with a slotted spoon and dry them on a wire rack for at least 1 hour. They will be ready when they are very sticky to the touch.

When they are sticky they are ready for a dusting.  Place the remaining cup of sugar in a shallow dish (I used a 9X9 glass dish) and place the berries in a small group at a time and roll in the sugar until well coated. Place on a wire rack and let them dry for at least one hour until no longer sticky and hardened.  Aren’t they beautiful? <sigh>

The sparkling cranberries will be set aside while you make the cupcakes.  For them you just follow the directions on a box of white cake mix  and then when the batter is done you fold in 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries and bake according to the directions on the box.  Seriously could not get any easier.

 

The frosting is almost as easy.  First you melt the white chocolate according to the package directions and set aside. Then, beat cream cheese and butter together in a large mixing bowl for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy and mix in white chocolate and vanilla. Lastly, you gradually add powdered sugar until it reaches desired piping consistency.

Pipe it on the cupcakes, top with cranberries, and these darlings are party ready!  You will have more sparkling cranberries than you need so I recommend leaving them in pretty little bowls as decoration or scattering them on the serving tray.  Why waste something that pretty in the shadows, am I right?

Below is a pin able image if you want to pin this recipe for later and a downloadable/printable recipe. Enjoy!