The color of this cranberry upside down cake with raspberry alone is enough to bring me great joy these days. It is snowing here in Minnesota, which is a blessing and a curse. Snow is a blessing, because it brings new life to the cold and allows my boys to go snowboarding and sledding in the evenings. It’s also a beautiful blanket over all that was gray just yesterday. There is nothing worse than a winter in Minnesota without snow. The cold, dark, seemingly endless season would be unbearable without it. The curse of snow, is that it is … well … cold and I am not a fan of cold. But, I digress.
The cake’s ruby top is a mixture of tart cranberries and sweet raspberries (my son’s suggestion, after tasting the ALL cranberry version, which he found too tart). The raspberries both sweeten the cake and also creates a more luscious texture. I personally love the tartness of the cranberries alone, but they have so much natural pectin that the consistency was more like tight jam than I wanted. The cake underneath is rich with butter and almond flour. I served it with ice cream for dessert and then had it for breakfast the next morning with coffee.
Cranberry-Raspberry Upside Down Cake
Find the full recipe at the bottom of this post.
To make the cake:
Grease an 8-Inch Springform Pan
Preheat oven to 350°F
In a saucepan heat the cranberries and 3/4 cup sugar over medium heat, just until the cranberries start to burst and sugar melts.
Turn off the heat and stir in the raspberries.
Pour the berries into the prepared pan.
Mix the batter:
Cream together the butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar, zest and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 5-8 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, scraping after each. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and almond meal. Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mix to incorporate, then add half the buttermilk. Repeat with the remaining flour and buttermilk. Mix just until it is all smooth.
Spread the batter evenly over the berries.
Place the pan on a baking sheet covered with foil, just in case the berry juices leak from the pan. Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool for about 30 minutes.
Invert the cake onto a platter.
Eat warm or room temperature.
With ice cream or nothing at all.
Ingredients
- 6 cups (680g) cranberries fresh or frozen
- 2 cups (284g) raspberries fresh or frozen
- 2 cups (400g) sugar divided
- 1 cup (224g) unsalted butter softened
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup (42g) almond meal
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8×3-inch springform pan with butter and line with parchment.
- In a saucepan heat the cranberries and 3/4 cup sugar over medium heat, just until the cranberries start to burst and sugar melts. Turn off the heat and stir in the raspberries. Pour the berries into the prepared pan.
- Cream together the butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar, zest and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 5-8 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, scraping after each. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and almond meal. Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mix to incorporate, then add half the buttermilk. Repeat with the remaining flour and buttermilk. Mix just until it is all smooth. Spread the batter evenly over the berries.
- Place the pan on a baking sheet covered with foil, just in case the berry juices leak from the pan. Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool for about 30 minutes.
- Invert the cake onto a platter. Eat warm or room temperature. With ice cream or nothing at all.
I made this for Thanksgiving tomorrow and scooped a bit of batter and berries out to make a mini cake for myself and its SOO good! This is absolutely my new favorite upside down cake! I also put about a Tbsp of orange zest in with the berries and a replaced the lemon zest in the cake with orange because I was lazy. Also, it looks gorgeous! Definitely a centerpiece dessert in my opinion!
Can I use something other then almond meal? I hate to buy it and only use 1/2 cup then the rest just waste in my cupboard!
Why don’t you make your own almond meal by grinding almonds in a food processor, coffee grinder or high speed blender. That way you can make just the amount you need – 1/2 cup of almond meal takes probably a bit less than a 1/2 cup of almonds.
What can I use instead of the almond meal/flour?
I think this recipe is fabulous. We have made it several times, but each time I’ve had trouble with too much fruit and batter to fit a 8″ springform pan. I did it again each time because I had more than a year in between bakes. This time I weighed the fruit so I know I had the exact quantity that the recipe calls for and I even removed more than a cup of fruit before adding the batter. It just poured over the edge of the pan as it baked and my pan was 8 1/2 inch. I removed some of the batter after it was in the oven for a few minutes and made four little cakes with the fruit I had taken out earlier and I’m eating some of the cake that pooled around the outside of the pan now (it’s delicious). If you follow the recipe, this requires a 10-inch springform pan, definitely not an 8-inch one.
Hi Karen,
Thank you for the feedback. I haven’t made the cake in a long while, but will retest.
Thanks, Zoë
I made this today, but I used an 8″ square pan and half the number of cranberries. Turned out beautifully.