Yesterday, I shared a recipe that I told you “Looked like Christmas.” Well, this one SMELLS like Christmas. Cranberry Upside Down Cake baking in the oven fills my kitchen with the heavenly scent of berries, cinnamon and orange. This beauty would be a perfect pairing with pumpkin or apple pie. The cranberry glaze adds a bit of tartness to this moist cake, so if you like you could serve some homemade whipped cream on the side. I happen to like the tartness just the way it is. 
Looks aren’t everything, but this cake is gorgeous. The cranberries in their glaze deepen to the perfect ruby-red, dripping with the promise of intense flavor. And boy, does it deliver! Upside down cakes are appealing to me because they look like a lot of work, but never are. As the fruit bakes into the cake, it caramelizes the edges for a pretty picture that tastes just right. Serve cranberry upside down cake at a fancy affair, or for a weekend coffee cake option.
- Topping
- 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 4 Tablespoons 1/4 cup or 1/2 stick unsalted butter
- 12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
- Cake
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Scant pinch ground cloves
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup 1 stick butter, softened plus more for buttering the pan
- 3 large eggs
- 1 Tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon orange juice from fresh orange
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1/4 cup of milk
- Special equipment
- 9- inch cake pan with at least 2-inch high sides. If you're pan is more shallow than this, just leave out about 3/4 cup batter.
- Cook's note: I like the orange zest to really show up in the cake so I grate as much as I can with a cheese grater and then finish the rest in a zester.
- Preheat oven to 350F.*
- Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch diameter cake pan with 3" sides. (If using a spring form pan or other size cake pan, see notes below.)
- In a small saucepan, place the 1/4 cup of butter and the 3/4 cups of packed brown sugar. On medium high heat, stir the sugar as the butter melts. Once the butter is melted and mixed in well with the sugar, stop stirring and let the mixture simmer for 15 seconds or so.
- Pour the brown sugar butter mixture into the prepared cake pan. Spread the cranberries on top of the sugar-butter mixture.
- In a medium bowl vigorously whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
- In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until light. Add the sugar and beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the orange zest and orange juice.
- Mix a third of the dry ingredients into the mixture. Beat in half of the sour cream. Mix in another third of the dry ingredients. Mix in the remaining sour cream. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the milk.
- Pour batter over the cranberries in the cake pan, and smooth the surface. Bake until a tester comes out clean, 55 minutes to an hour. Cool cake in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a blunt knife around the inside rim of the cake pan to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Then turn the cake out onto a platter.
- *Preheating and baking temperatures for this recipe are for a light colored pan. If you are using a dark colored non-stick pan, decrease temperature by 25 degrees, and check cake after baking for approximately 45 minutes.
- Note regarding spring form pan: If you want, you can bake this in a spring form pan, however, the butter/brown sugar will start to seep out the seam of the pan so either wrap in foil before baking or place a baking sheet under the pan to catch any leaks.
- If you're using a pan that's smaller or more shallow than the 9-inch pan with 3" sides, pour enough batter to leave at least 1" in the pan to allow for the batter to rise and discard the rest.
- Use a 9-inch cake pan with sides at least 2-inches high. If your cake pan is shallow, you may leave out 3/4 cup of the batter when pouring into the pan.
Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes.
Made this for the past two thanksgivings but it had a sauce recipe to serve it with. I’m unable to find that recipe now. Could you help me out? This recipe is fantastic and want to share with my family but I love the sauce over the top
Hi Debbie, I actually have two Cranberry Upside Down Cakes on my site. Do you mean the one with the ricotta cream for the top? Here’s the link for that one. I hope the link attached works. If it doesn’t just search cranberry upside down cake ricotta cream on my home page. Thanks so much for making this recipe part of your holiday tradition! 🙂
https://gooddinnermom.com/cranberry-upside-down-cake-with-ricotta-cream/
I’ve made this three times now. First time, worked perfectly. Next two times I’ve had to cook it nearly an hour and a half to get it to cook fully. I’m cooking it in a spring form pan and my oven is set to 350 — it runs true to temp as I have a thermometer in to test temp. I can’t figure out what is going on. I’d appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.
Hi Lisa, that is strange especially since it worked perfectly for you the first time. What if you try with a larger pan? For instance if you are using a 9″ round pan, bump it up to a 10″ round. If you can made your cake more shallow, in other words. Hope this helps and that I’m not too late in replying.
I followed the directions for the the dark non stick pan (which would take it down to 300 if you dropped the oven an additional 25 degrees from the normal directions) The cake was in there for almost an hour and a half. The cake developed quite a crust on it which made testing for doneness tricky. I think it finally finished baking…. did I do this correctly???
Anne, Please accept my apologies for taking several hours to reply. I had all the ingredients for the cake so I make one again after reading your comments (in a dark colored pan) except this time I left the temperature at 325F degrees from the start and through to finish. It came out just right at 45 minutes so I went in and edited the recipe. I apologize you had to bake your cake for so long and I hope it did turn out for you. When I first made this cake and lowered the temp after inserting the dark pan, I had a different, older oven and maybe it wasn’t baking accurately. Thanks for your question, let me know if it worked out for you.
It did come out fine in the end…an hour and a half in the oven and then wrapped in foil to cool added a little carry over cooking. We LOVE the recipe and I will do it at 325 for the entirety next time. Thank you for responding! I plan to make several for the neighbors, this information will make it easier.
Merry Christmas!
Oh good, I’m glad it worked in the end. Merry Christmas to you too! Thanks again for trying the recipe.
I used a regular 9 inch pan with 2 inch sides, and there definitely wasn’t enough space for all of the batter (shame to waste it!). But it still came out looking lovely!!! Also I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do with the tablespoon of OJ, but i just dumped it in with the wet stuff hoping it would work out. Looks and smells amazing, so we’ll see if it’s a hit tomorrow!!!
Hi Sam, the recipe calls for a 9 inch pan with 3 inch sides. I just added a note to the bottom of the recipe that if you’re using a more shallow pan to not use all the batter. And thanks for the heads up about the orange juice. I went in and corrected that. Hope you all like the cake. Thanks for making it!
I have this recipe in the oven, I think it will be delicious. Just a warning, I’m using a 9 inch cake pan that has 2 inch sides, it has baked out and made a terrible mess in my oven. I would suggest using a larger pan or one with 3 inch sides.
Bonnie! Oh darn it! I hope you were able to salvage some of it. :
I made this for the holidays last year and it was a huge hit. Not only that, but it came out of the pan easily and looked exactly like the picture. It will clearly be on my list of holiday baking again.
Thanks for the comment Betty! It’s on my holiday table every year too. Happy Thanksgiving to you.
I made this cake in a spring form pan and sure enough it started to leak through so I hastily put a cookie sheet one the oven rack below where the cake as baking. I was more than pleased with the ease with which the cake pulled away from the pan side when I released the tension. The end result was a wonderful dessert, would recommend the recipe to anyone.
Penny, good job and quick thinking with the cookie sheet. I’m glad it turned out for you. I’m going to add a note to the recipe to recommend the baking sheet for spring form pans. Thanks for your comments!
Would a spring pan work for cooking this? Or will the batter run through?
Hi! I’m going to make this cake for Thanksgiving. I was wondering if you have to pre-cook the cranberries at all or if they are just added to the pan uncooked? Thanks!
Hi Caelee, No precooking necessary. The cranberries break down pretty fast. Thanks for including this recipe for your Thanksgiving feast. I’m honored.
I’m sure it will be great! Thank you.