White Chocolate Cranberry Cake

Place cranberry sauce into a small sauce pan. Cook over medium-low heat while beating until slightly thickened, about 15-20 minutes. When thick, put in a small bowl and refrigerate.

Melt chocolate slowly in double boiler. Set aside to cool.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add chocolate and beat until it is the consistency of pudding. (If chocolate is too hot when added it may melt the butter. If this happens, put bowl into freezer for a few minutes. When cool. Beat.)

Beat egg yolks into butter, sugar, chocolate mixture one at a time. Beat at least one minute after each egg yolk. Set aside.

In very clean large bowl with clean beaters, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold whites into chocolate mixture. Reserve 1/3 of this mixture in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Fold 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries into the remaining cake mixture. Place this mixture into buttered (bottom only) 9-inch springform pan. Bake in pre-heated oven (350F) for 40-50 minutes or until set.

When done, cool completely in the pan. Cake will sink in middle. When cool, remove from pan and spread cranberry sauce on top of cake. Then spread reserved cake mixture on top of this. Spread some of this mixture on sides of cake as well. Refrigerate overnight.

Optional decoration: Slowly melt 1 cup white chocolate in double boiler. Add a few semi-sweet chocolate bits, do not stir.

When all is melted, place a large piece of waxed paper on a cool counter, spread chocolate on waxed paper (thin layer) and let set.

When chocolate has set, break up into uneven pieces. Place these pieces on edge around top of cake. Sprinkle with a little cocoa and a handful of dried cranberries.

Note: This recipe contains uncooked egg whites, which have been known to carry the pathogenic bacteria Salmonella. As a safety precaution, replace the whipped egg whites with frozen pasteurized egg whites (container must indicate that the whites can be whipped), or prepare an Italian meringue. Italian meringue is prepared with a hot sugar syrup, which will kill any harmful bacteria that may be present.