Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

This is essentially a moist orange loaf baked on top of cranberry sauce with booze added. It’s an appropriate thing to make for the holidays since it’s festive-looking and contains alcohol.

It’s also a cake that requires no decorating since the caramelized ruby-red berries take care of that for you.

If your cake fails to transfer neatly from pan to plate, it’s okay. You can dot any left-behind cranberries back into the top.

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake Recipe Success Guide:

Don’t skip lining the cake pan with parchment paper. Transfer the cake to a plate while it’s still warm but not molten hot.

Cake Pairings:

Cake + Whipped Cream
Cake + Vanilla Ice Cream
Cake + Yogurt + Coffee (breakfast or snack)

Ingredients

Cranberry Topping

12 oz cranberries, rinsed
2 tbs butter or coconut oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp table salt

Boozy Orange Cake

1 cup all purpose flour + 1 tbs cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 heaping tsp table salt
1/2 cup sugar + 2 tbs (if you like a sweeter cake)
1-2 tbs orange zest, (zest of 1 orange)
1 large egg, separated + 1 egg white
1/4 cup room-temperature butter
1/2 cup milk or plain yogurt
1.5 tbs orange liqueur such as Grand Marnier or Cointreau*

*optional

Step-by-step Instructions

Note: this recipe was modified after the photos were taken. The photos do not show creaming butter and sugar or whipping egg whites, steps added in the second round of testing for a lighter, fluffier cake.

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a 9- inch cake pan, or 8-inch square pan with parchment paper. Spray with nonstick spray.
In a saucepan, add butter, sugar, and salt. Melt the butter and sugar over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Stir in cranberries, turn off heat, and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, beat room-temperature butter and sugar together with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.* If the butter and sugar refuses to cream and looks like wet sand, microwave for 10 seconds to soften butter more. Zest oranges into the creamed butter and beat in egg yolk. Add flour mixture and milk, and beat until just combined.
In the now-empty flour bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Make sure to rinse beaters- any batter residue will inhibit egg whites from whipping up. Fold egg whites into batter with a rubber spatula.
Pour cranberry mixture into prepared baking dish. Pour batter over cranberries, and use a fork to spread the batter to the edges of the pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven. Pour liqueur into a small bowl. Brush the liqueur over the cake with a basting brush**
Once the cake has cooled for 15 minutes, place your serving dish over the cake pan, and flip it over in a quick, confident motion. Set the plate back onto the counter, and lift off the cake pan. If some cranberries are stuck in the pan, remove and dot them back into the top of the cake**

*if you want to skip all these steps of creaming butter and sugar and whipping egg whites, you can. You can melt the butter and combine it with beaten eggs, sugar, milk, and orange zest. Add liquid mixture to flour and mix until just combined. The cake will be denser like a moist loaf.
**This step is optional if you prefer it alcohol-free.

click images to enlarge