High Altitude Chocolate Cranberry Upside Down Cake
Chocolate cranberry upside down cake 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.
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.
Notes
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.
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