Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

This post comes to you as a way for me to use up the last half bag of holiday cranberries we had lying in our freezer. Sorry as this is my third cranberry recipe basically in a row but the fact is that I had a lot of frozen cranberries and you can’t go wrong with any of the recipes, they’re all a little different but all so delicious. I recently made apple-cranberry cake which was probably one of my favorites, so I was a little reluctant to try a new cranberry recipe for fear that it would be a disappointment. Thankfully this recipe was no disappointment! The cake itself is so light and fluffy from the whipped egg whites with just enough sweetness, while the tart cranberries are a perfect contrast for the buttery brown sugar topping.

Please enjoy this recipe, or any of my other cranberry recipes I have recently posted, you honestly can’t go wrong with any of them! So start baking!

CRANBERRY UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE:

recipe adapted from here

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 6 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries

Cake:

• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 large egg whites

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare topping, lightly coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Heat brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes or until butter melts and sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Pour sugar mixture into prepared cake pan, tilting pan to coat bottom evenly. Arrange cranberries evenly over sugar mixture.
3. Whisk the egg whites with a mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form using clean, dry beaters. once down transfer egg whites gently into a small side bowl. Clean mixer bowl and fit mixer with clean bowl and beater
4. To prepare cake: combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir with a whisk. Place granulated sugar and 1/2 cup butter in a bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
5. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Spoon the batter over the cranberries, spreading evenly. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula. Place a serving plate upside down on top of cake, and invert the cake pan onto the plate. Let stand 5 minutes, and remove the pan. Serve warm and enjoy!

Cranberry Cake

What’s better then baking on a cold winter day? Not a whole lot.
Today was the perfect snowy and cold day hanging out with my family watching more netflix then I would like to admit. So to end this perfectly lazy, chilly day and use some frozen cranberries we stocked up on from thanksgiving, I made a super yummy cranberry cake!

look at those cranberries and walnuts! YUM!

I don’t know about you but I’m somewhat tired of the dry cranberry orange bread that fills most holiday tables. So instead of baking the usual cranberry orange loaf this cranberry cake is so moist, delicious, and anything but boring.

Recipe adapted from here

Cranberry Cake Recipe

3 eggs or two eggs and one flax egg(1 tbsp flax meal mixed with 3 tbsp water. Let sit at least 2 minutes)
1 3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into chunks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour ( I used 1 cup whole wheat flour)
2 1/2 cups cranberries (1 bag)

Optional walnut topping:
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp applesauce
1 cup pecans, toasted
1/2 cup oats

Heat the butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the sugar and stir. Add the toasted pecans and applesauce and cook for several minutes, stirring, until the butter and sugar mixture is shiny and smooth and the nuts smell toasted. Spread over the cake batter and bake as above.

makes one 9×13-inch or one 10-inch springform cake

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan or a 10″ springform pan.

Beat eggs and sugar together for at least 5 minutes — probably as long as 7 or 8 minutes — the egg and sugar mixture should double in volume and turn pale yellow, leaving ribbons on top of the batter when you lift the beaters.

Add the butter and flavorings and beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in flour and fold in cranberries. Pour into greased pan.

Bake 45-50 minutes for a 9×13, or a little over an hour for the springform. You made need to tent the cake with foil in the last 15 minutes or so to keep the top from browning.

Cool completely before serving.