Nothing says festive like a recipe with fresh cranberries! This cake comes together quickly and makes the house like a holiday dream, with spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and a little bit of ginger.
I love this recipe simply because it feels like magic! Fresh cranberries are inedible because of their tartness, but when baked with sugar and spices, transform into a perfectly sweet, spiced jelly like layer. Add in a vanilla almond cake beneath it, and you have a bakery quality cake. Bonus? Your house will smell divine!
Easy Upside Down Cake Recipe
As far as upside down cakes are concerned, they’re pretty easy and quite impressive…Just make sure you have enough time to let it cool before you flip it, otherwise it becomes a crumbly mess! If you don’t have cranberries, you can easily substitute blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries in this recipe. Even orange slices would be festive and fabulous.
Combine sugar, brown sugar, and spices in a bowl- whisk until combined. Pour that mixture over the cranberries and until all of them are coated, then transfer them to a greased 8 inch cake pan (make sure its at least 2 inches high).
Make sure the pan is greased well! We want it to easily remove itself from the pan once we flip it. I suggest using a stick of butter to grease the pan.
Press the cranberries down into the pan (not enough to pop them, just enough to make sure they coat the pan). After that, we’ll make our cake batter. I love a little almond flavor in this cake with the cranberries, but if you prefer vanilla only, that works too. Add a little orange zest if you like!
Spread the entire cake batter over the cranberries mixture, being cautious not to mix the 2. I recommend using as silicon spatula to spread. After that’s done, it’s ready to bake!
How to Flip an Upside Down Cake
There is a bit of a technique to flipping an upside down cake. If you’ve done it once, you’ll know how to do it forever though.
- Let the cake cool, but not entirely. Give it a rest for about 15-20 minutes out of the oven before you flip it. A cake that is too warm will crumble when flipped. Too cool, and it won’t come out whole.
- Give it some help. Run a knife around the exterior of the cake to help it loosen up before you flip it.
- Use a large enough flat plate to flip it. One that is about an inch or two around the exterior of the cake dish is perfect.
- Place the inverted plate on the top of the cake, and flip!
- You should have a perfect upside down cake if you followed all of these steps.
Garnishing a Cranberry Upside Down Cake
For garnishing this cake, I like to use a simple sprig of rosemary. Here’s a few more ideas:
- Dust with powdered sugar right before serving!
- Add a few large scoops of vanilla ice cream to the center of the warm center of the cake just before serving (this method really only works if you are serving the entire cake, otherwise serve individually if you want in tact leftovers).
- Orange zest with a spiral orange slice is a beautiful color, and flavor compliment to this cranberry upside down cake.
If you’re looking for other desserts for the Winter season, here’s a few more we think you’ll like!
What do you think about this recipe?Have questions?Comment below!Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, and connect with us on Instagram and tag your @Laughingspatula recipes with #laughingspatula,while you’re at it…We love to see your pics!
Cheers to the holiday season! – Kathi and Rachel
Cranberry Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp butter (for greasing pan)
Cranberry Sugar Layer
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ginger powder
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 3/4 cup fresh whole cranberries
Cake
- 6 tbsp butter (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Heavily grease an 8 inch cake pan with about 1 tbsp butter.
Cranberry Layer Group
- In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and spices (ground cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg). Whisk to combine. Add cranberries to mixture and whisk until cranberries are coated, and pour entire sugar/spice/cranberry into greased cake pan. Press down cranberry gently.
Cake
- Using an electric mixer, combine butter, sugar, vanilla extract and almond mixture. Mix on medium speed until fluffy. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- With the electric mixer on low in 3 small batches, add flour mixture to butter mixture, adding small amounts of milk in each pass. Mix until fully combined.
- Add cake batter on top of cranberry mixture, and smooth with silicon spatula.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake come out clean.
- How to Flip Cake: Let the cake cool, but not entirely. Give it a rest for about 15-20 minutes out of the oven before you flip it. A cake that is too warm will crumble when flipped. Too cool, and it won't come out whole. Run a knife around the exterior of the cake to help it loosen up before you flip it. Use a large enough flat plate to flip it. One that is about an inch or two around the exterior of the cake dish is perfectPlace the inverted plate on the top of the cake, and flip!
Can you use frozen cranberries?
Yes, you can use frozen. No need to thaw.