###Cranapplecreamy by AthropicPanda

" A cranberry apple compote with orange zest laid upon a bowl of vanilla ice cream swirled with white chocolate"

Vendor|Flavor|Amount :-:|:-:|:-: The Flavor Apprentice|Cranberry|2% Flavorah|Cranberry|0.5% Jungle Flavors|Fuji|3.25% Flavour Art|Liquid Amber|0.25% Flavour Art|Orange|0.25% Flavour Art|Madagascar /Vanilla Classic|0.75% The Flavor Apprentice|Vanilla Bean Ice Cream|4% Flavor West|White Chocolate|2.5%

• Let this baby sit someplace for a week. Even better two, although it is tasty right after mixing.
  Check it out and mix it up on AllTheFlavors.com

Just in time for the holidays! This was quite the task, since I don't really enjoy cranberry anything. Cranberry sauce, cranberry juice, none of it, lol. But, since it's the holiday season and cranberries are very popular around this time of the year, I chose to start this recipe. But, boy am I glad I did.
This recipe is a real treat. It's sweet, tangy and creamy all rolled into one which, IMO, is a great combination. It has gone through many iterations, but this one has my full support. It just tastes so good. Shall I break it down for you?

###TFA Cranberry/FLV Cranberry
Of course, the cranberry flavors. TFA Cranberry is definitely a tasty one but its pretty bitter/sour as well. It's more a long the lines of a cranberry juice than anything. It's a strong flavor so I didn't need much and also has a pretty intense ethyl alcohol content in it so letting it breathe or cure is ~~extremely beneficial~~ absolutely necessary and will remove the strong bite you can get from it as well as let the creams take over the way they should. Otherwise you will have this overly alcoholic cranberry vape on your hands. Another thing to note is that TFA Cran also has menthol as well as menthyl acetate which are both cooling, minty flavor molecules so it adds to the ice cream aspect of the entire vape. Makes it an experience the way Koolada does.
FLV Cranberry is a little more realistic, like a cranberry sauce or smashing some cranberries and licking your fingers. It has a nice natural sweetness that isn't overbearing like a lot of other fruits. It's super authentic and is a bit bitter but not too much. It is also super strong so I only needed it to accent TFA's giving a much fuller tasting cranberry. I think anything over 0.5% would've taken over the entire mix. Although, bumping it up to 1% would be alright after a long steep. I was originally using FLV Boysenberry to accent the cranberry but after tasting FLV Cran, I was pleasently surprised by how authentic it was.

###JF Fuji/FA Liquid Amber/FA Orange
JF Fuji is so much more sweet and mellow than FA Fuji. Now if you don't have JF yet, get it because it's damn good and a lot more forgiving in a mix than FA's though they both have their places. I had it here just to complete the cranapple flavor but it lends a good bit of sweetness while also bringing a really nice tangy note.
Liquid Amber was used specifically to 'cook' these fruits since it gives off a fermented, almost baked fruit flavor. It has an apple note behind it but it can be used in that way for all sorts of fruits. As with all FA flavors, use it in moderation. I only needed a touch of that type of flavor so 0.25% was good enough for me. FA Brandy is also useful for this.
FA Orange was basically added just to smooth out FLV Cranberry's bitter note. Yes, I could have used like TFA Marshmallow or something but I know from cooking that oranges are great with cranberries, especially as an accent so I decided to take a different path this way. I chose this specific orange flavor because it's sweet, not too strong, and can be like orange zest, which is exactly what I needed it for. It complemented the cranberries perfectly and only hits on the very top end of the fruit notes. The orange comes out the more it steeps as well.

###TFA Vanilla Bean Ice Cream/FW White Chocolate/FA Vanilla Classic
I started out this recipe originally with FW VBIC. Now, while I love that flavor because of how smooth and creamy it is, TFA's has this super sugary sweetness that went so perfect with an astringent type of flavor. TFA VBIC is definitely the base of this mix but I wanted more to it.
White chocolate and cranberries are well known to be good friends, so I took that into consideration when I very first made this recipe. Honestly, my first thought was to make just a cranberries and white chocolate vape, but the thought of having it be an ice cream just sounded feckin' delicious. I chose FW White Chocolate over all others because of the tasty cocoa note that it has. It almost has like a brown sugar element when using it with other creams, yet still has the creamy vanilla white chocolate note we all know and love.
I added in a touch of FA Vanilla Classic just to bundle it all together and boost the vanilla aspect in the whole mix without adding too much more body or richness but it also kind of separates the ice cream from the white chocolate. I originally had the vanilla classic in with FA Vienna Cream to give the ice cream a little more depth, but it was drowning out the white chocolate too much. Using too much Vanilla Classic can also mute lighter notes and will also drown out the white chocolate so, 0.75% is just perfect.
###Possible substitutions
While I don't think you should sub any of these flavors, since it wouldn't be the same recipe I've made, here are some suggestions you could use, just in case.

• FW VBIC for TFA VBIC (in case of pepper taste) but I would reduce it to 3% and add in 1-1.5% FA Vienna Cream
• TFA White Chocolate for FW White Chocolate Even swap
• FA Fuji for JF Fuji Although I would cut it in half to 1.5-2.5%
• FLV Boysenberry for FLV Cranberry
  I was making it this way for a while, makes it a bit sweeter. Leave out the FA Orange if you use this sub