Cranberry Curd 

1. In a medium, deep bottom saucepan under medium-low heat, add cranberries, fresh orange juice and sugar. Stir ingredients together and cook until cranberries start to pop open and release its juices, about 5-6 minutes. Remove cranberry mixture from heat and cool to room temperature, about 10-15 minutes.
2. Blend cooled cranberry mixture in a blender or food processor into a puree.
3. Strain cranberry puree through a fine-mesh sieve/strainer into a medium mixing bowl.
4. In a separate medium mixing bowl, add the eggs and egg yolks and whisk to combine. Next, whisk in the cranberry puree until thoroughly combined.
5. Cook cranberry curd mixture over a double boiler whisking constantly until curd takes on a thick consistency and registers 170F(77C) on a kitchen thermometer. (Alternatively, cranberry curd may be cooked directly on stove top in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.) Remove curd from heat. 
6. Strain cranberry curd into a medium mixing bowl using a fine-mesh sieve/strainer.
7. Whisk softened butter one tablespoon at a time into warm cranberry curd.
8. Cool cranberry curd slightly before covering directly with plastic wrap and refrigerating to set, about 2-3 hours. (Make sure that plastic wrap is directly touching the surface of cranberry curd to prevent the formation of skin on curd while refrigerated.)
9. Once set, reserve 3 oz (6 tablespoons) of cranberry curd for cranberry buttercream. The remaining curd will be used to fill cupcakes. 

Vanilla Cupcakes 

1. Preheat oven to 350F(180C). Add 12 cupcake liners to a cupcake pan and set aside until ready to use.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk ingredients to combine. In a measuring cup or small mixing bowl, add the milk and vinegar. Lightly whisk to combine.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl with a hand-held mixer, add the butter, oil and sugar. Cream ingredients together at medium high speed until mixture appears light in fluffy in appearance, about 4-5 minutes.
4. Beat vanilla extract into butter mixture. Next, beat in the eggs one at a time into butter mixture ensuring that the previous egg is fully incorporated before adding the next one into batter.
5. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides and base of mixing bowl and mix batter for an additional minute at medium high speed.
6. Reduce mixer speed to low. In an alternating fashion, mix half of the dry ingredients into batter, followed by all of the milk mixture and ending with the remaining dry ingredients. Once all of the dry ingredients have been incorporated into batter, stop mixer and scrape down the sides and base of bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase mixer speed to medium and mix vanilla cupcake batter for an additional 1-2 minutes.
7. Divide cupcake batter into prepared cupcake pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through bake time. Vanilla cupcakes are ready when a toothpick inserted into the center of one of them comes out clean.
8. Cool vanilla cupcakes in pan for 3-4 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely to room temperature.

Cranberry Buttercream 

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand-held electric mixer, add the butter and pinch of salt (if using). Cream butter at medium high speed until it takes on a light and fluffy consistency, about 3-4 minutes.
2. Mix cranberry curd into creamed butter. Reduce mixer speed to low and mix 2 cups of powdered sugar into cranberry-butter mixture. If cranberry buttercream appears to be on the soft side, mix in the remaining powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until a smooth, thick but pipeable consistency is achieved. (You may not need to use all of the remaining powdered sugar).  Add and mix in the vanilla extract into cranberry buttercream.
3. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides and base of the bowl and give cranberry buttercream a good mix before using. 

Assembly 

1. Transfer cranberry buttercream into a large pastry bag fitted with a 2D wilton/preferred pastry tip. Place pastry bag filled with cranberry buttercream in the refrigerator until ready to use.
2. Core the center out of cooled vanilla cupcakes taking care to not go all the way down to the bottom of the cupcakes. You only want to remove/core out about an inch from the centers of the cupcakes. I used this tool but this treat corer is a good alternative as well.
3. Fill a pastry bag with cranberry curd and pipe cranberry curd into the center of cored vanilla cupcakes.
4. Retrieve cranberry buttercream from fridge and pipe cranberry buttercream on top of filled cupcakes in a swirl design. See this video for reference.
5. Decorate cranberry cupcakes as you like with fresh or sugared cranberries and fresh herbs like mint or rosemary. For the sugared cranberries, I used this recipe but halved it. For the white chocolate cranberry circles, I used this tutorial on how to make chocolate geometric shapes but added dried cranberries top for a pop of color. Chocolate circles are completely optional.