Easy Cranberry Upside Down Cake Recipe

A close-up of a Cranberry Upside Down Cake slice on a white plate with a blue floral pattern, surrounded by whole fresh cranberries.

5 from 5 vote

Easy Cranberry Upside Down Cake Recipe

Easy Cranberry Upside Down Cake Recipe is made with fresh cranberries and warm cinnamon. This is a festive and beautiful cake. The cake is really soft from the sour cream, and the cranberries caramelize from the butter and brown sugar…it is delicious! Just perfect for the holidays!

Prep Time15

Cook Time45

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cake, cranberries, upside-down cake

Servings: slices

Calories: 398kcal

Author: Lora

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup light brown sugar firmly packed
2 large eggs
1 ¼ cups cake flour
2 cups of cranberries fresh or thawed frozen
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup canola oil
¼ cinnamon
½ cup sour cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan or a 9 inch x 9 inch square cake pan (You could line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter the paper or you could butter it and spray around the sides with a baking spray).
In a small saucepan on low heat, melt the butter and the brown sugar. Stir the butter and brown sugar until it is smooth. Add the glaze to the prepared pan and turn it around to cover the entire bottom of pan evenly. Because of the light brown sugar, it will be thick. Make sure you don't get it too thick when you are melting the butter. Arrange the cranberries evenly over the pan.
Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a medium sized bowl and whisk together the ingredients.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the and eggs and the granulated sugar until fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Lower the speed, and mix in the oil and vanilla until combined.
Add ½ of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and combine. Make sure you scrape around the sides of the bowl.
Mix in the sour cream until combined. Mix in the rest of the flour mixture.
Carefully spoon the batter over the cranberries and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Bake for about 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes our clean. Let the pan cool for about ten minutes and then run a knife around the edge of the pan.
Carefully invert a plate on the pan and then turn over both the plate and the pan. That is the trickiest part of the whole recipe. Some cranberries make stick to your pan. You can place them right back where they came from on the cake.

Notes

Expert tips to make cranberry upside down coffee cake:

Be sure to use room-temperature eggs. That makes sure that air gets mixed into the batter, which makes for a lighter cake.
The flour, baking powder and salt need to be whisked together in a separate bowl before adding into the cake batter. Combining the dry ingredients makes sure they distribute evenly throughout the cake batter.
Take care to not overmix the cake batter. When you add in the sour cream and flour mixture, it just needs to be stirred in until combined. That will keep the cake soft and fluffy.
No mixer, no problem! The whole batter could be put together by hand. Beat the eggs and sugar until they're light and fluffy...it will take a little bit of arm power, but it could all be done by hand!
Add a teaspoon of orange zest to the cake batter for a fresh citrus burst of flavor.
If using frozen cranberries, they need to thaw and be drained before adding to the cake batter.

Nutrition