Upside Down Cranberry Cake

Not sure what to do with your left over cranberries from the holidays? Well this is the perfect recipe to use them up. I came across this recipe over at Lisa's blog and I knew that I had to give it a try. I had a bag of left over cranberries sitting around from Thanksgiving and they were still good. I checked to make sure that I had everything to make the cake and then after dinner that night got to work making dessert. Just a heads up, this cake will not last long. The first night the Mr. and I ate half the cake. There is just something about the sweet cake and the tart cranberries that make you go back for more.



This was easy and quick to throw together. Like I said, I made this after dinner for dessert. It says to let it cool completely but well it smelled too good to not have any that night so while it was still warm I slid it out of the pan and we dug in and let me tell you, it is insanely good warm. I had a 12 ounce bag and I really needed to use it up so I just used the whole bag in the recipe, I lined up the bottom of the pan and lined the cranberries up the sides. I had a little bit of a problem with spreading the caramel sauce on the pan, so I threw the pan with caramel sauce in the oven for a minute until it bubbled and evened itself out on the pan, than I laid the cranberries on top.


Topping:

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1/3 c. packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 8 oz. fresh or frozen, thawed, cranberries

Cake:

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. milk
• 2 egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. For topping, lightly spray a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Heat brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter in a small pan over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes or until butter melts and sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture into cake pan, tilting pan to coat bottom evenly. Arrange cranberries evenly over sugar mixture to cover entire bottom of the pan.
3. For the cake, mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Pour sugar and 1/2 cup butter in another bowl and mix until well blended and fluffy. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. (Be sure to save the egg whites for later.) Add in vanilla. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture alternately with milk.
4. Mix egg whites with a whisk. Add egg whites into the batter. Pour the batter over the cranberries, spreading evenly.
   
5. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center of the cake comes out clean. Cool cake in pan. When cake has cooled, use a thin spatula to loosen cake from the pan and then invert the cake into a large plate.

This post is submitted in
Homemaker Monday
Just Another Meatless Monday
My Meatless Monday