Pistachio Cranberry Torte

My mommy name daaaay! =D
I couldn't make her a cake for her birthday in 27th November 'cause i was in London yet, so I take advatage now with this fabulous Torte. I changed walnuts with pistachio and raspberries with cranberries! It MUST be delicious.. Happy name day Mommy <3

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 cup toasted pistachios, finely chopped
Fruit filling:
1 cup of cranberries preserves
Cream cheese frosting:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6½ cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar
Topping and decoration:
½ cup pistachios, broken by hand
Few fresh cranberries


Preheat oven to 180^o degrees and grease two cake pans.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour and baking soda; whisk together to mix.  Set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, stir the whipping cream and vanilla together. Set aside.
In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add egg yolks one at a time, beating until thoroughly mixed. Each egg yolk should be fully incorporated into the mixture before adding the next egg yolk, taking about one minute to blend in each egg yolk.
With the mixer on low speed, add about one third of the flour mixture, mix just until the flour is almost completely blended.  Scrape the bowl down, and add about one half of the buttermilk mixture, blending just until mixed. Scrape the bowl down again and continue alternating with the flour mixture and whipping cream mixture, ending with the last portion of the flour, and stirring just until blended.
Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the pistachios into the batter.
In a medium mixing bowl and using clean beaters, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until foamy. Gently fold about ¼ of the beaten egg whites into the batter to lighten the batter, and then fold in the remaining egg whites.
Bake for about 45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let finish cooling, then remove them from the pans.


Beat cranberries with a mixer and add some sugar to make it sweeter (q.b.).
Put the fruit filling on the top of your cakes, once cooled and put them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.


In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, and vanilla; use an electric hand mixer or wooden spoon and beat together until mixture is smooth. Add powdered sugar; beat until frosting is smooth and creamy. 


Place one cranberry topped cake layer on a serving plate. Using an offset spatula, spread with some of the frosting. Repeat with the second cranberry topped cake layer. Top with the plain cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over the top and sides of cake.
By hand, bread the pistachios for the topping into ¼ inch pieces. Sprinkle over the top of the cake.
Slice a few cranberries in half with a sharp kitchen knife, blot with paper towels to remove excess juices. Gently press the raspberry halves around the bottom of the cake. Place a few whole cranberries on top of cake.
Cover cake and refrigerate until ready to serve. Refrigerate leftovers =)