This high altitude chocolate cranberry upside down cake is made with a moist and dense chocolate cake and tart juicy cranberries. The cranberries are baked underneath the cake batter, then revealed as a beautiful topping when the cake is flipped upside down. Delicious served warm from the oven with whipped cream or ice cream.
You might also love these recipes for cranberry cream cheese pie, cranberry orange muffins, and cranberry pecan shortbread cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy to Make. With standard pantry ingredients and no mixer needed, this chocolate cranberry upside down cake is simple enough for any baker to make, no matter your experience.
Beautiful for the Holidays. I just love the vibrant jewel-like color of the ruby red cranberries when the cake is turned upside down. To make it even prettier, add a few more fresh or frozen cranberries on top, just before serving. Or you could even decorate the cake with some sparkling sugared cranberries, which would be so gorgeous for a Thanksgiving or Christmas dessert.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Butter. You’ll be using melted butter along with brown sugar, to create a sweet syrup for the cranberries to bake in at the bottom of the cake.
- Sugar. You’ll need light brown sugar as well as granulated sugar to add sweetness and moisture to the cake. Cranberries are very tart, so don’t shy away from using all of the brown sugar for the syrup.
- Cranberries. From October through December, most grocery stores will carry bags of fresh cranberries in the produce section. You can keep these in your freezer at home until ready to bake with them.
- Flour. All purpose flour gives the cake structure and strength.
- Cocoa Powder. You’ll need unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder (not natural cocoa powder) for a rich, dark color and flavor.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, so the cake rises as it bakes.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Vegetable Oil + Milk + Sour Cream. A combination of oil, milk and sour cream keeps the cake so moist.
- Eggs. Adds moisture and strength.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with non-stick baking spray, line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper, and spray the paper, too.
- In a saucepan, melt together the butter and brown sugar, stirring until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan.
- Add the cranberries on top of the melted butter/sugar mixture, spreading them out into an even layer.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
- Separately, whisk together the oil, sour cream, milk, eggs and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir the batter together with a spatula, just until moistened.
- Dollop the batter over the cranberries, then gently spread it out so it’s smooth and even.
- Bake the cake for about 55-60 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, and cool for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the cake to loosen it from the pan, then invert the cake onto a serving plate. If any cranberries stick to the pan, just arrange them on top of the cake.
- Let cool for 30 minutes, then serve warm, or at room temperature. I like to decorate the top of the cake with a few chocolate chips while the cake is still warm, as well as a few frozen cranberries for extra pops of color.
Recipe Variations: Chocolate Cake with Cranberry Sauce
During the early recipe testing for this chocolate cranberry upside down cake, I excitedly flipped the cake over, only to realize with disappointment that the cranberries hadn’t stayed on the bottom of the cake, but had floated up and were suspended all throughout the cake batter. It still tasted fantastic, moist, fruity, tart and chocolatey. But the end result wasn’t an upside down cake, since the fruit was no longer on the bottom.
To save my cake and make it look as good as it tasted, I made a quick cranberry sauce and spread that on top of the cake, along with a sprinkling of chopped chocolate. It looked just beautiful and tasted wonderful.
For this version, you can use any chocolate cake recipe, included today’s recipe or 1/2 of my high altitude chocolate cake recipe, baked in a 9-inch cake pan without the cranberries or just one cup of cranberries folded into the cake batter. Serve warm, or at room temperature, topped with cranberry sauce before serving with ice cream or whipped cream.
Cranberry Raspberry Sauce Recipe
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
No, you cannot just use any cake recipe, as I learned during my first round of recipe testing. Cranberries contain tiny air pockets, which is why the bogs they’re grown in are flooded with water at harvesting time, causing them to float on top of the water. They will also float in cake batter if the batter isn’t thick enough. My favorite chocolate cake recipe is not thick enough to hold the cranberries at the bottom of the cake, so I ended up using a thicker more dense batter based on my chocolate muffin recipe.
Store leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat leftover pieces of cake in the microwave for 30-45 seconds at 50% power.
While I haven’t tested a vanilla version, I’d recommend trying the muffin batter from my blueberry muffin recipe. Just like with the chocolate cake, you will need a thick, dense vanilla batter, or your cranberries won’t stay on the bottom of the pan.
You Might Also Like
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High Altitude Chocolate Cranberry Upside Down Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- 9 Inch Round Cake Pan
Ingredients
Cranberry Topping
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 12 oz fresh or frozen and thawed cranberries
Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with non-stick baking spray, line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper, and spray the paper, too.
- In a saucepan, melt together the butter and brown sugar, stirring until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan.
- Add the cranberries on top of the melted butter/sugar mixture, spreading them out into an even layer.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
- Separately, whisk together the oil, sour cream, milk, eggs and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir the batter together with a spatula, just until moistened.
- Dollop the batter over the cranberries, then gently spread it out so it's smooth and even.
- Bake the cake for about 55-60 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, and cool for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the cake to loosen it from the pan, then invert the cake onto a serving plate. If any cranberries stick to the pan, just arrange them on top of the cake.
- Let cool for 30 minutes, then serve warm, or at room temperature. I like to decorate the top of the cake with a few chocolate chips while the cake is still warm, as well as a few frozen cranberries for extra pops of color.
Simply delicious!
We absolutely loved this cake. It turns out so beautiful, especially with the chocolate chips on top. The cranberries give just the right tartness with the chocolate. I live in Utah and often have trouble with altitude and baking, so I’m so excited to try your recipes!