Cranberry-Strawberry Upside-Down Cake with My Recipe

Frozen cranberries and fresh strawberries sit atop caramel

Having just returned from a wondrous and joy-filled 75th birthday trip to Salt Lake City sponsored by my daughter, life in Bitter Lake returns and so does Thursday afternoon Chinese mahjongg with my lady friends. While there will be a little birthday party next week for the “mother” of our local mahjongg, I decided for today to bake a cake with health benefits of cranberries, strawberries and whole wheat flour in the mix.

Bee Happy with this gorgeous variation of upside-down cake

I altered and made easier (no mixer, oil instead of butter in batter) the Ben and Birdy recipe* for cranberry upside-down cake, decreased salt from 1/2 to 1/4 teaspoon, used two extracts because I had no orange to zest, and used an 8″ x 8″ glass baking dish with handles because the cast iron skillet is too heavy for me to flip the cake over while holding the serving platter.

Update 21 September 2023: Cake turned out better with my recipe than the Ben and Birdy’s recipe. It was gone in a flash. The strawberries added an even fruitier “top” and the combo of the two berries made the caramel even better. Juicy, caramel-y, buttery goo with cake. Mmm.

One must imagine the strawberries beneath the caramelized cranberries! They’re there. Bee says so.

Set up needs: 2 cups frozen cranberries, a few fresh and sliced strawberries, a small pan to make caramel (unless cast iron skillet is used to bake the cake), two bowls, a whisk, a wooden spoon and a piece of parchment to use as aid when flipping cake upside down. Preheat oven to 350 degrees if using cast iron, to a bit above 325 degrees for glass baking dish.

Make the caramel base: melt 1/4 cup butter with 3/4 cup brown sugar in a small pan on stove top. After butter is melted on medium-low heat, set timer for 2 minutes more and stir to melt the sugar, then off heat. Spread in baking dish. (You can do this step in cast iron skillet if using one.)
Dry ingredients in big bowl: Whisk 3/4 cup each all-purpose and whole wheat flours; 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt. (1/2 teaspoon salt if not watching sodium in it and baking soda.)
Wet ingredients in 2nd bowl: Whisk 2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1/4 cup milk, 1 teaspoon orange extract, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Now it’s time to pop the frozen (or fresh) cranberries on top of the caramel and then the strawberries on top of the cranberries. THEN:
Add the whisked wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with wooden spoon. Pour the batter over the fruit. Bake for approximately 45 minutes. Start checking at 40 with toothpick test.
Place cake in pan onto wire rack for 15 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge, place the parchment on the top of the cake pan and carefully! flip the cake onto a serving plate.