Cranberry Orange Upside-down Cake is a fun variation on the traditional pineapple dessert.
Every variation of this upside down cake has been phenomenal. Lick the pan good. No joke! This cranberry orange upside-down cake is no exception. It is just the right amount of tangy and sweet to make you want more. And the cake just melts in your mouth.
The ladies from my church come over several times each month. Sometimes I try out new recipes on them to get their feedback. I made apricot upside-down cake for them a while back, and one of the women has been asking me to make it again.
I didn’t have any apricots left over from this summer (I’ll definitely have to freeze some next summer), so I started thinking of other variations I could try for this recipe. I remembered I had cranberries in the freezer, so I decided to use those.
As I started putting this together, I thought that adding some orange zest would give it a good flavor. Then I had this sad orange that had been zested that I didn’t know what to do with. So I decided to add the whole thing to the recipe. That’s how things end up getting crazy in my kitchen!
It ended up really yummy, and everyone enjoyed it. If you have any other phenomenal ideas for more variations of this recipe, I would love to try them. It truly is one of my favorite dessert recipes I’ve ever had!
Recipe for Cranberry Orange Upside-down Cake:
Cranberry Orange Upside-down Cake
Cranberry Orange Upside-down Cake is a fun variation on the traditional pineapple dessert.
Ingredients
For the Fruit Layer:
- 2 Tbsp. Butter
- 1/4 C. Brown Sugar
- 1 Orange, zested and sliced
- 3/4 C. Cranberries, fresh or frozen
For the Cake:
- 1 1/3 C. Flour
- 1 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 C. Butter, softened
- 2/3 C. Brown Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
- 2/3 C. Sour Cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- In a round cake pan, melt 2 Tbsp. butter in the oven. Using a hot pad, tilt pan to coat bottom and sides with butter. Set aside until after cake batter is made.
- Zest and slice orange. Sprinkle half of the zest in the cake pan. Set aside the other half for the batter. Remove peel from the orange slices.
- In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt.
- In a Kitchenaid or stand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes, scraping occasionally. Add egg and vanilla and beat another minute.
- Add dry ingredients and turn mixer on low. Then add in sour cream and remaining orange zest, and mix until just combined.
- Sprinkle the cake pan with the reserved 1/4 cup brown sugar. Place sliced oranges over the brown sugar. Sprinkle cranberries into the pan, trying to get them mostly between the orange slices.
- Spoon the batter over the fruit, and spread out until it covers them evenly.
- Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool for a few minutes. Then place a large plate or platter upside-down over the cake pan, and using potholders, flip the entire thing over, so the cake comes out of the pan onto the plate upside-down.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
8 ServingsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 330Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 308mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 1gSugar: 21gProtein: 4g
The nutritional information provided here is not guaranteed to be accurate and is provided for informational (and google) purposes only.
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I have heard of Pineapple upside down cake before but I must say that this is my first time hearing about Cranberry Orange. However, it looks delicious and easy enough to make.Thanks for sharing this great recipe with us.
Thanks for your comment! I actually made up the idea myself, and it turned out to be delicious!
I do like your blog, but really you made this up? No, I beg to differ. I can find recipes for this with and without sour cream, with canned or fresh oranges, and fresh, frozen or canned cranberries going back the 1950’s, including those by Kraft, Pillsbury, and Betty Crocker. Please give credit where credit is due. You may have adapted a recipe to make it your own, but honestly, you did not make this one up.
Patti, I’ve never seen a recipe for cranberry and orange upside-down cake. I did link back to the recipe I originally used to make an upside-down cake in general, but this was something I came up with. If you follow my blog, you’ll see that I always link back to the places I get recipes from, if in fact I got the recipe from somewhere, because I love to give credit where it’s due. However, I also enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, and this is one of those recipes. I imagine this would be one of those cases where “there’s nothing new under the sun.” I hope your day is filled full of blessings, and that no one ruins your day by saying something purposefully rude to you, like you have to me.
I love pineapple upside-down cake, but rarely can find it. This twist on it seems really interesting. I’ll have to pin this for later.
I hope you’ll try it! It really is a delicious recipe!
Whoa. Pretty sure that this pineapple upside down cake is life changing! I’ve had the traditional cake time and time again, and it is a favorite. But this version is a game changer!
That’s so kind of you to say! We really enjoyed it!
I am a huge lover of pineapple upside down cake but this looks pretty dang amazing. I love that you used the entire orange with the cranberries. I make an orange cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving and it is amazing on just about everything so I can only imagine how delicious this tastes. I will be making it this week, for sure. Thanks for sharing this invention with us.
Orange and cranberry do seem to go together so well, don’t they?
This looks like a very yummy recipe. Now I have to take time off from surfing the net to get a sweet snack, thanks. To bad I don’t have one of these around to eat.
You’ll definitely want to make this so you have it on hand for the next time the craving hits! 😉
OMG this looks so beautiful and yummy! I have never tried cranberry orange upside cake but this is totally about to be in my bookmarked recipe maker- cause I need this in my life ASAP! It sounds literally mouth watering delicious.
I hope that if you try it you’ll come back and let me know what you think!
Cranberry Orange has always been one of my favorite candle scents so I can only imagine what the combo tastes like. Your upside down cake looks delicious!!
Such a great combination! I have a favorite quick bread recipe that uses both, so I thought it would be fun to try it in a dessert!
I saw a photo of this on Twitter and I think my mouth watered LOL! This looks amazing. I love the cranberry orange combination. Definitely adding this to my recipe list -thank you! Can’t wait to make this!
I’m so glad you thought it looked good, Heather! It was so delicious!