Cranberry Upside-Down Cake
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T-minus 16 days until Thanksgiving! How is your menu coming along? When I stumbled upon this cake a couple of weeks ago I immediately thought that it would make a great Thanksgiving (or Christmas, if you’re really planning ahead!) dessert; a perfect alternative to the traditional pumpkin and pecan pies. It’s festive and includes traditional flavors, but in a different form. I made a pineapple upside-down cake a couple of summers ago, and absolutely loved it. From the caramelized topping to the moist and buttery cake, I couldn’t wait to experiment with more varieties. The best part? This cake took less than 20 minutes to get into the oven, and uses very little kitchen equipment. This is a weak-in-the-knees cake. Buttery and delicious, topped with sweetly spiced, slightly tart cranberries. The perfect balance of flavors… ’tis the season!
A quick note on the recipe – my cake did stick a little bit on one side when I turned it out of the pan, so I had to push it back together. No biggie. Gives it character (and it tastes just as good!). Just be aware that because of the amount of sugar sitting on the bottom of the cake pan, even with a generous buttering, you could still experience some sticking when you turn the cake out. Embrace the imperfections :)
What are you thinking about serving for Thanksgiving dessert?
One year ago: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Two years ago: Parmesan Black Pepper Biscotti[/donotprint]
Cranberry Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, divided
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) ground allspice
- 1¾ cup (175 g) fresh cranberries
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup (122 ml) milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
- Rub the bottom and sides of an 8-inch cake pan with 2 tablespoons of the unsalted butter (it will be a really thick layer of butter). In a small bowl, stir together ½ cup of the granulated sugar with the cinnamon and allspice. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan. Arrange the cranberries in a single layer on top of the sugar mixture.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter and ½ cup of granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, until well combined.
- Spoon the batter over the cranberries in the pan, and smooth the top. Bake until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake; invert onto a rimmed platter. Store any leftovers at room temperature.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Delicious cake and very easy. I used a springform pan and the cranberry juice oozed out the bottom (leaving a very messy oven). I would definitely make this again in a regular baking pan.
I was wondering could I swap the milk for orange juice?
Hi Gayle, I wouldn’t… the cake needs the fat from the milk.
Could you use apricots instead of cranberries for the cranberry upside down cake? If so, what other itmes would you change?
Thanks!
Hi Deanna, I think you could! I don’t think you’d need to change anything else.
Would you make this the day before serving or is it best to serve the day you make it? How would you store it if you make it ahead?
Hi Erica, Making it the day before is totally fine. I would store it in an airtight container like a cake or pie carrier; if you don’t have one, then place on the serving plate and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
I learned this trick from Cooks Illustrated. Grease, flour, add parchment paper, and spray that with PAM. Run a knife around the edges before turning it over to take out of the pan. Viola. No sticking. This was specifically for Cranberry Upsidedown Cake.
Its soundds delliciouuss!!i was just wondering if i could substitute the cranberry with strawberries since i cant find any other type of berries here …fresh or frozen!
Or if i used oceanspray pie.filling..would that work?
Hi Christine, I think you could use strawberries. I would not use pie filling.
Have you ever tried making a cupcake version?. If so, what did you do differently? I love this cake!
Hi Giana, I have not made cupcakes out of this cake, sorry I can’t give you any insight!
Made this yesterday (I really appreciated the “one year ago… two years ago..” links!). Wonderful flavors and appearance but I was put off by the mouth feel of grainy sugar in the topping. Did anyone else experience this? Next time, I think I’ll cook the sugar and butter beforehand. And on another note, since this was just a dry run for Thanksgiving, I used cranberries I had frozen in late 2006! They had been packaged using a Food Saver – that is one amazing gizmo! They were juicier than fresh, which is to be expected, but the flavor had not been compromised in the least.
Do you think you could substitute blueberries for this recipe? If so, would you use fresh or frozen? My only concern is that the fresh would get too mushy. I wanted to make this to take to a friend’s house this weekend but since cranberries aren’t in season I was trying to think of a good Spring alternative :) Please let me know, thanks!
Hi Ashley, Blueberries would be delicious! I would use fresh, personally. I think frozen might release too much water while baking.
Thanks for the quick response Michelle! I am definitely going to try it with the fresh blueberries then – I think it will be delicious since I love the cake by itself already :) thanks!
Made this cake this morning, and it was fabulous! I added zest from one orange and baked it in a spring form pan lined with a piece of parchment to make getting it out after the flip easier – not a single cranberry got stuck!
I have made this recipe three times. I absolutely LOVE cranberries, so the 2nd and third time I added 1 cup extra cranberries. The cake then needs to cook longer, but my husband and I like it even better with the extra cranberries.
Michelle – I made another version of this recipe last year but I love the buttery moistness of your version so much! This is now my go-to cake for the holidays. Thanks.
Thank you for the recipe! It was delicious. Have a question though…the cake was almost like a shortbread cake. Is it supposed to be dense or light and fluffy? No matter though. It was yummy!
Hi Rae, The cake should be buttery, moist, light and tender, not dense.
This cake was delicious and very easy to make! I took it to Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and everyone was impressed! The whole cake was gone in about a half hour. I really enjoyed the tart cranberries with the sweet buttery cake! Thanks for sharing this recipe, I will definitely be making it again!
We did this with 1/2 cranberries and 1/2 raspberries. It was heaven, thanks!
This is a keeper. Made it this morning for our Thanksgiving Day dinner at Church. We had to set aside some to bring home or we wouldn’t have gotten any! Superb. Will become a staple in my recipe collection.
Dick
This makes a REALLY thick batter! Which is good, because it allows you to spread it over the cranberries without dislodging them much. One 12-ounce bag of cranberries is just over 3 cups, so I doubled the batter and made two! One for tonight with the family, and one for Saturday when we have “second Thanksgiving” with all my friends.
I made this cake this afternoon with my daughter and we both loved it! Def. a keeper for our recipe binder. :) The only changes we made were to use a springform pan and I didn’t have any allspice on hand so we used a little more cinnamon and added some nutmeg. Loved the taste of the cranberries and the texture of the cake. I did a blog post on it and linked it back to this post so you would get the credit you deserve. Thanks for the yummy recipe :)
Hi Michelle,
I made this cake last week for a get together with friends and it was a big hit. I took note of your comment that it might stick to the pan and to butter the pan generously. I did, and it unmolded perfectly. Presentation was very nice and the sweet/sour combination of the cranberries and sugar was delightful.
Sorry, this is a silly question but what about the cranberries seeds? are they any kinf od seedless cranberries? and another silly question, will frozen cranberries work on this recipe? Thanks!
I’m not aware of any seedless cranberries, but they really don’t affect the sauce at all, in fact I never even noticed them last year! I do think you could use frozen cranberries.
Think doing a mixture of cranberries and raspberries would be good?
Hi Robin, That sounds good, although raspberries aren’t in season here right now so I’d be hard-pressed to find them! If you can get good fresh ones in your corner of the world, go for it!
I just made this cake and it’s wonderful! I used a 8″ iron skillet and it came out perfect. The tart/sweet top with the homemade cake! This was a trial run so now I will service another one for Thanksgiving.
I love your recipes!
I’m hoping to try this cake for Thanksgiving. Do you think lining the pan with parchment paper and then buttering the parchment would make it less likely to stick?
Hi Hannah, Yes, I would definitely go the parchment route!
I just made this cake. I let it cool for 20 and turned it out on a platter and it looked perfect! Taste wise…..wow….it was tart!!!! What would a good way to be to slightly sweeten the cranberry topping a little???
Hi Becky, Bummer you thought it was too tart! With all the sugar and the sweetness of the cake I found it to be a good balance, but if you want it sweeter I imagine you could use more sugar in the topping.
Another way to sweeten the topping a little bit might be to serve the cake a la mode with a sweet vanilla or sweet cream ice cream, or maybe even with an orange creamsicle style ice cream, instead of adding more sugar to the topping. (when I made the cake, some of the sugar had crystallized further and came off in sheets, so at least in my cake pan, adding more probably wouldn’t have worked).
I Just made this recipe and my darling husband, giver that he is, threw himself onto the sword and had some. Let me tell you….This is so delish! I love that the tartness of the cranberries balances with the subtle sweetness of the cake. This is definately going into my recipe book as a keeper.
I’m so glad I found this recipe! I wanted to make a dessert with cranberries and I just couldn’t find one that interested me until now! Thanks you for sharing, I will be trying this very soon :)
I just pulled my cake out of the oven and let it cool for only 10 minutes in the pan and it turned out perfectly! Such a beautiful cake and I can’t wait to sneak a taste once it cools completely.
Coming from a baking student who just recently found her passion for baking, who seems to have a knack for baking):
Have you ever considered turning the cake upside sooner to when you take it out of the oven? I just made angel food and chiffon cakes in class last week (had to redo them a few times and I took the time to do them all by hand, even with mixers around). We baked those cakes and then turned them upside down right out of the oven. I understand this cake needs to settle the juices a bit. But perhaps turning it over sooner would make it easier to get out.
What a beautiful cake. I’m thinking about making mini cakes out of this. Fun.
Oh wow. I love the color of this upside-down cake. What a brilliant idea.
I SO Love this idea. May have to make this alongside my pumpkin pies for turkey day.
Do you think a springform pan might prevent the sticking you mentioned? I have several, but have never used them!
That’s a good idea, I hadn’t thought of that. You could remove the sides, flip it over, and then carefully peel the bottom of the pan off what would then be the top. I might try it!
I bet if you buttered the springform like mad, then put in a piece of baker’s parchment and buttered THAT to death, it would come out like a charm…
I used a springform pan for mine when I made it. It has that nonstick coating in it and with that and following the butter instructions in the recipe it came out so easy. Didn’t even have to use a knife or parchment paper. I recommend the springform pan, it went really smooth for me with the take out. Only one little cranberry piece in the middle fell off.
Wow! Love the look of this. Do you think it would be good with more of a cornmeal/cornbread type base? I love the idea of serving it as more of a savory than a sweet dish with the rest of the Thanksgiving spread…
That’s a good question, you could always try the topping with your favorite cornbread recipe. Let me know how it turns out!
hey browneyedbaker, do you think it would make much of a difference if i use normal butter instead of unsalted?
Sure, just omit the salt in the recipe.
This recipe looks phenomenal! As the weather gets chilly, I am craving all the flavors of fall and cranberry happens to be one of my favorites. I’m a big fan a cranberry and orange together. What do you think about adding orange zest to the cake batter? I also like the idea of embracing the imperfections during the holidays, a time when the pressure for perfection is definitely on! :)
I think some orange would be wonderful!
Oh this cake is definitely going on my Thanksgiving menu! I’m not a fan of pecan or pumpkin pie so I usually just have ice cream for dessert! But THIS is getting made so I can eat it! :)
I’m going to try this next week for a gathering of friends and I think I will try lining the pan with parchment or wax paper, heavily buttered. Maybe that will help the sticking. Hope so because I really want it to look as good as I know it will taste.
Awesome cake batter! Together with the cranberries it is tartly addicting. I plan on making your apple crisp for Thanksgiving. I made this cake following the recipe on my iPhone and I don’t know how you regularly do that! Love your blog though: )
love it..love your blog period!
This looks great…..I love anything with cranberry……yum!
I added a tablespoon of orange zest and substituted the vanilla for orange extract. Wowza!
I was just thinking of this same thing! I LOVE the idea!
wow, this looks great, thanks for sharing!