Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars Top Secrets Recipe

Despite screwing up the icing, badly (I failed to soften the cream cheese correctly and ran out of lemon juice), this recipe still turned out pretty well.  It is very, very sweet.  I tried it at 10pm and ended up bouncing around the house until 3 am because of all of the sugar.

I cut the entire cake into the triangle shape sizes and brought it into work for the folks at school.

Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars

adapted from The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch who adapted from TopSecretRecipes.com 

Yield:  16 triangular bars

Nutrition:  You don't want to know :)

Cake:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup diced dried cranberries
• 6 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks (I just use chips here.  It's easier.)

 

Frosting:

• 4-ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup diced dried cranberries
  

Drizzled Icing: (I think this step is optional.  I've always left it out because they are just so sweet already!)

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 teaspoons vegetable shortening (melted if you want a smoother consistency).

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Make cake by beating butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth.
3. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger, and salt and beat well. 
4. Gradually mix in flour until smooth. 
5. Mix 3/4 cup diced dried cranberries and white chocolate into the batter by hand. 
6. Pour batter into a well-greased 9x13" baking pan (I used parchment paper). 
7. Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly across the pan. 
8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until cake is light brown on the edges. 
9. Allow cake to cool.
10. Make frosting by combining softened cream cheese, 3 cups powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. 
11. When the cake has cooled, use a spatula to spread frosting over the top of the cake.
12. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of diced cranberries over the frosting on the cake.
13. Optional Steps #13 and 14:  Whisk together 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and shortening. 
14. Drizzle icing over the cranberries in a sweeping motion or use a pastry bag with a fine tip to drizzle frosting across the top of the cake.

Allow cake to sit for several hours, then slice the cake lengthwise (the long way) through the middle.  Slice the cake across the width three times making a total of eight rectangular slices. Slice each of those rectangles diagonally creating 16 triangular slices.