I’m not sure if I should admit this, but I’ve had a bag of cranberries in my fridge since Thanksgiving. My mom brought them and I was supposed to make cranberry sauce but never did. When I discovered them the other day, still in good condition, I began to brainstorm on what I should do with them. And by brainstorm, I mean I poked around the web for inspiration. I knew that I didn’t want to make scones or cookies. I thought about a pie, until I a recipe for a cranberry cornmeal upside down cake. I’m always intrigued by cornmeal desserts. I found my recipe.
I followed the recipe exactly with one exception. I didn’t bake it in a cast iron skillet. I have one, but it’s small and I wanted to use all of the batter. I was also a bit nervous about the cake actually coming out of the pan, so I used a springform pan instead. The cake was unexpectantly delicious. The cake itself had more of a light cornbread texture (perhaps from the stone ground cornmeal?) and tasted like sweet corn. I also expected the cranberry to be pucker tart, but it wasn’t. With the little bit of brown sugar, the cranberry was no more tart than a cherry and provided a nice balance to the sweet corn. I’m definitely going to make this for Christmas, but I can’t decide if I should make it for breakfast or dessert. Maybe I’ll make it for breakfast and have more for dessert 🙂
Cranberry Cornmeal Upside Down Cake
- 11 tablespoons unsalted butter (, room temperature, divided)
- ½ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
- 4 cups fresh cranberries
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cornmeal ((I used stone ground))
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Preheat oven to 350°. Heat 3 Tbsp. butter and brown sugar in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Stir in cranberries; remove from heat.
- Beat together granulated sugar and remaining 8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Stir in sour cream. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt; mix into egg mixture. Scrape batter over cranberries in pan and bake until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 25–30 minutes. Invert immediately onto a wire rack (sugared fruit will stick to pan if left to cool).
