Cranberry Upside Down Cake

 Tonight we planned a dinner of roast chicken, baked potatoes and salad.  It sounded like the perfect time to add dessert to the mix.  We've been trying to do a freezer cleanout, and there was a bag of frozen cranberries that looked like the right thing for today.  The weather outside is cold and gray, so a Cranberry Upside Down Cake fit to a tee.

I made this cake for our holiday gathering, but I can't remember what recipe I used.  Today, though, I didn't have orange juice or sour cream at hand so I needed a new recipe anyway.  I ended up combining this recipe from Martha Stewart and this recipe from David Lebovitz's blog.  I liked that fact that David Lebovitz uses cornmeal, and I liked the fact that Martha Stewart doesn't call for you to make a caramel.

The cake took about 55 minutes to bake, and I found it to be just OK but not as good as the one I made over the holidays. It was too rich and buttery and I'd have preferred a bit of a drier cake.  D.L. uses a whole stick of butter and 2 eggs, and Martha Stewart uses 6 tablespoons and 1 egg.  Also, I think it could have used more sugar: D.L uses 3/4 cup and Martha uses 1 cup.  Martha for the win!  However, the cranberries on top tasted rather tart.  Next time, I'd follow David Lebovitz's directions and not be lazy and make the caramel.  I'd keep his cornmeal and lemon zest suggestion, but add more sugar and use less butter and only one egg.  I'd like to try this again to see how it comes out.

But, my crew didn't complain, they enjoyed their slices and we have plenty left over that will certainly not go to waste.  

Cranberry Upside Down Cake


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