FOR THE GLUTEN FREE VANILLA CAKE:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a 9×13 cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix butter, oil and sugar until fluffy.
4. Add in vanilla and beat in eggs until combined
5. With mixer on medium, pour 1/3 dry ingredients into your egg mixture. Then add 1/3 of alternative milk and lemon juice. Continue to alternate dry ingredients and liquid until it’s completely mixed into the batter onto the parchment lined baking sheet.
6. Tap the filled baking sheet against the counter to even out the cake batter. 
7. Bake for roughly 12-13 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool fully.

FOR THE VEGAN VANILLA BEAN FROSTING:

• Mix shortening/butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla bean seeds in a stand mixer until incorporated.
• Transfer filling to piping bag and set aside.

FOR THE CRANBERRY FILLING:

1. Heat the cranberries, water and vanilla bean on medium until the berries begin to break down.
2. Stir in the sugar and pectin powder and allow to bubble for 3-5 minutes, stirring in between. Once combined, remove from heat. Discard of vanilla bean pod and blend with an emulsion blender to smooth.
3. Allow to cool.
4. Transfer cooled jam to a tipless piping bag and set aside.

FOR THE VANILLA GLAZE:

• In glass bowl, mix together powdered sugar with vanilla bean.
• Stir in a few drops of alternative milk at a time.
• Mix thoroughly until thick and combined.
• When the glaze is ready, it should be slowly dripping from the spoon. If it seems too thick add a splash more milk and stir.

FOR THE SUGARED CRANBERRIES:

• Heat (do not boil) the sugar and water in a saucepan on medium until the sugar has fully dissolved.
• Pour in rinsed cranberries for roughly 2 minutes until evenly coated. The berries should not pop or break.
• Remove cranberries from simple syrup with a slotted spoon, transferring to parchment paper.
• Once transferred (work quickly, they should still be slightly wet), immediately drop the cranberries into the white sugar, rolling to coat. 
• Place sugar covered cranberries onto a clean piece of parchment and then transfer to the fridge to set. They will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days.

PETIT FOUR ASSEMBLY:

1.  Once the cake is fully baked and cooled, remove it from the cookie sheet and use a soft measuring tape to cut it into 3 even slices. If baked in a 13×9 cookie sheet each cut of cake will be roughly 4 3/8″.
2. Pipe the vegan vanilla bean frosting onto the tops of the first to slices of cake. Spreading evenly with a cake spatula.
3. Top both slices of cake with the vanilla bean frosting with a layer of the cranberry jam.
4. Place the second slice of cake on top of the first.
5. Then place the third slice of cake (not frosted) on top of the second to create a stack, gently pressing down on the top of the cake to compress the layers.
6. You’ll now have 1 rectangle cake that is 9″ long, 3 layers high and 4 3/8″ wide. To get even cuts, I recommend wrapping the cake and transferring to the freezer for 1 hour to achieve clean slices. Once frozen, cut the cake into 6 even slices horizontally. Then use the measuring tape to cut even squares vertically (3 per row). Once sliced, transfer back to the freezer until ready to top with glaze.
7. Once sliced, top each of the petit four cakes with the glaze.
8. Garnish with sugared cranberries.
9. Serve immediately or freeze for up to 4 weeks.