Before all those beautiful bags of fresh cranberries go out of season, you MUST make this cake! Next time you go to the grocery store, grab up a few bags and throw them in your freezer.
Cranberries are full of antioxidants, which protect our cells from nasty free radicals that cause disease. I’ve read that extracts of cranberries killed breast cancer cells in a test tube…but it is unknown whether the same happens in the body. I’d like to think so as I eat my Topsy Turvy Cranberry Cake!
This simple cake is a great way to get your all of that goodness and have dessert, too.
I made it 3 TIMES over the holidays, and it is so easy to throw together that one of those times I did it with a houseful of guests. It took no time & no concentration.
The cranberries are tart, the cake adds the perfect amount of sweetness, and when you turn it topsy-turvy onto a plate, the cranberries shine! The cake is soft on the inside with just a bit of a crunch where the oven browned the top..which is now the bottom. It is perfect for dessert, or even as part of brunch with a cup of coffee.
My husband has NEVER liked any type of cooked fruit dessert, but he tried this cake and ate it up! I couldn’t believe my eyes. Who knew that such a simple recipe would convert my husband to a cooked- fruit -dessert- eater after all of these years! Makes my head a little topsy turvy!
Topsy Turvy Cranberry Cake (original recipe)
Butter for the pan
2 cups fresh cranberries, washed & sorted
1 cup sugar, divided
2 eggs (I’ve used chia egg substitute–that is what you see in the pics, little black dots of chia… and it works great)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (I use Earth Balance)
Set oven to 350. Butter a round or square 8″ pan.
Throw the cranberries into the pan, add 1/3 cup of sugar and toss. Spread evenly in the pan.
In a bowl (I use a 4 cup glass measure) melt the butter in the microwave. Add eggs, 2/3 cup of sugar, and 1 cup of flour. Stir well.
Put on top of cranberry mixture and spread, covering the cranberries.
Bake 40-50 minutes or until golden on top.
When serving, flip topsy turvy onto a plate. Can sprinkle the top with sugar for a pretty, sparkly finish.
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This can also be served right side up as a crustless cranberry pie. Here is an interesting read from The Boston Globe about this recipe:
This popular crustless pie is essentially a cake-y batter poured over fresh cranberries in a pie pan, baked until the cranberries make a saucy bottom for the buttery top. Cambridge resident Sandra Shapiro clipped this many years ago from The New York Times and writes, “I bake this in an attractive earthenware pie plate.” Her recipe was called “Mrs. Arthur Morawski’s Cape Cod Cranberry Pie,” and the clip said it was baked by Hester Griffin for the West Dennis Library. Similar recipes have appeared in The Boston Globe’s Confidential Chat, in Laurie Colwin’s “More Home Cooking,” where it was called “Nantucket Cranberry Pie,” and in Ina Garten’s “Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?,” in which she adds an apple to the berries.
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Enjoy!
