A little bit of citrusy sunshine in this endlessly rainy and cloudy season! I’m so excited about this improved version of an older recipe for orange and cranberry upside-down cake. It’s super moist, bursting with orange flavour, has a caramel topping with bits of cranberry and is basically flawless. Let’s bake!
After discovering just how delicious this peach upside-down cake was, I decided to use the same cake base for this one. By adding orange zest and swapping some of the yoghurt for orange juice, the acidity in the batter stayed the same but the flavour went up a million percent.
Thinly sliced oranges and dried cranberries go on the base of your cake tin with melted butter and brown sugar. The batter goes on top and the deliciousness at the bottom comes together as the cake bakes in a sticky caramel layer, with the orange peels softening just enough to make you think there’s some marmalade going on! It’s really unbelievable.
When you flip the cake over, the topping and all that yummy fruit takes center stage and it’s almost too pretty to slice. The cranberries add a pop of colour and a nice chewiness. The cake is moist, buttery and honestly, so good by itself even without that topping!
Please read the recipe notes before beginning.
Orange Cranberry Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients
For the topping
- 1/4 cup butter, melted (55 gms before melting)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, light or dark (70 gms)
- 1 whole orange (Valencia preferred)
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries, sliced in half if needed (40 gms)
For the cake
- 1 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (160 gms)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt if using unsalted butter
- 125 gms butter, at room temp
- 3/4 cup caster sugar (140 gms)
- Zest of 1 orange
- 2 eggs, at room temp (see notes)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup thick, plain yoghurt at room temp (80 ml)
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (60 ml; from the orange you zested above)
Instructions
- First make the topping. Pour the melted butter into the base of a 9" springform tin (see notes for other options). Sprinkle the sugar over the butter and spread it around evenly. Slice the orange thinly and arrange over the sugar. Then fill in the gaps with the dried cranberries. Set aside. The butter may leak out a bit in a springform tin if it doesn't seal super tight, so make sure to place it on a baking tray to catch any drips
- Preheat the oven to 175 C.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar and orange zest with a hand mixer till light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat till combined.
- Add a few tablespoons of the flour mixture to stabilise the batter, then stir in the yoghurt and orange juice. The flour prevents the batter from splitting when the citric acid goes in.
- Now slowly add the rest of the flour mixture, and fold with a spatula or beat on low speed with the hand mixer till you have a smooth batter but do not over-mix. The batter is fairly thick.
- Spoon the batter on top of the orange and cranberries in the base of the tin, and smoothen the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, covering the top loosely with foil if it's browning too quickly. Bake until the top is golden-brown, and a toothpick comes out clean (I usually start checking at about 30 mins). It may crack a bit but will not dome.
- Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
- Now remove the sides of the springform tin and place a platter or sturdy wire rack (to prevent sogginess) directly onto the surface of the cake, then quickly invert. Remove the base of the springform tin and you have a lovely caramelised orange topping!
- Allow the cake to cool for about an hour, then slice with a sharp knife to cut through the orange peel and cranberries. Store at room temperature for 1 to 2 days in an airtight tin and in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days. Best eaten warm or at room temperature. Happy baking!
Notes
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Hi, when you say zest the oranges with the butter and sugar I part 3, what do you mean by this? Sorry just learning. Thank you
Hi, I use the zester in this step to directly add the orange zest to the bowl, but you can zest it separately as well. Hope that helps !
Hi.. I baked this cake today… The exterior was great but the inside didn’t bake too well.. Baked it for longer than asked for but was still moist.. Halwa like texture.. What could be the reason.. Great flavor though
Oh I’m sorry to hear that! Is your oven working properly and was the temperature correct? The cake is definitely very moist and soft so if you were expecting a very firm cake that will not happen. What I sometimes do if a cake isn’t baking from the inside is to cover the top with foil and keep it in for a bit longer. This cake also needs to be cooled before cutting since it’s fragile. Hope that helps!
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