Heavenly Cranberry Orange Angel Food Cake Dessert

Heavenly Cranberry Orange Angel Food Cake Dessert is a cake recipe built around water, orange juice and angel food cake cut into 1-inch cubes. Plan on 12 servings and about 160 minutes.

• Yield 12 servings
• Ready in 160 minutes
• Prep 150 minutes
• Cook 10 minutes

Ingredients

Cranberry Filling

• 12 ounces ( 340 g ) fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 cup ( 212 g ) granulated sugar
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup orange juice

Cake and Cream

• 1 angel food cake cut into 1-inch cubes
• 16 ounces ( 454 g ) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
• ⅔ cup ( 141 g ) granulated sugar
• ⅔ cup half-and-half or evaporated milk

Whipped Cream

• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons ( 22 g ) powdered sugar

Instructions

1. For the cranberry filling: In a medium saucepan, combine the cranberries, sugar, water, and orange juice. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the cranberries have popped and the mixture is slightly thickened, 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature - it will thicken more as it cools.
2. For the cake and cream layer: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl using an electric handheld mixer, add the cream cheese, orange zest, and sugar. Mix until well-combined and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the half-and-half or evaporated milk. Mix until smooth and well-combined, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Add angel food cake cubes to the bowl with the cream mixture and gently fold together until the cake cubes are evenly coated. IMPORTANT: Read the note below - you may not want/need to use all of the cake cubes, depending on the size of the cake. Add cake cubes until they are all thickly coated with a layer of cream.
4. For the whipped cream: Whip the heavy cream and powdered sugar together until soft peaks form.
5. To assemble: In a trifle dish, a large glass bowl or a 9X13-inch (or slightly smaller) dish, spread half of the angel food cake mixture. Dollop half of the cranberry mixture across the top and lightly spread and follow with half of the sweetened whipped cream. Repeat the layers. The layers don't have to be perfect. It's going to be a little haphazard and messy. Don't stress.
6. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours. Serve chilled.

Cool the layers before you stack them.