Pumpkin Cranberry Pecan Upside Down Cake
This week is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Thanksgiving is all about the food. And football. And family. And friends. It doesn’t get much better than that.
This cake can make Thanksgiving even better for you. I made this the other night and I had to literally put it away so I wouldn’t eat the whole thing. It’s absolutely amazing. It combines all my favorite Thanksgiving flavors with the pumpkin cake topped with a caramel/pecan/cranberry topping. And it is one of the easiest desserts to make ever. If you need a dessert for Thanksgiving, definitely give this a shot.
We loved it so much I will be making it again. Twice in one week. I never repeat recipes, let alone in the same week. Seriously, it’s that good.
One Year Ago: Thanksgiving Two-Fer Bars and NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
Two Years Ago: Oreo Brownies and Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Pumpkin Cranberry Pecan Upside Down Cake
Yield: 8-10
Ingredients:
8 ounces (2 sticks or 16 Tbsp) unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups cranberries
4 ounces (1 cup) coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line the bottom of a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper.
Melt the butter in a small saucepot over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and whisk until smooth.
Pour the brown sugar mixture into the bottom of the cake pan.
In a medium bowl combine the cranberries and pecans. Place them in the pan over the brown sugar mixture.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree and oil.
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Carefully spread the batter over the cranberry pecan topping.
Bake until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, 35-40 minutes.
Cool the cake for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Place a large plate or platter on top of the cake. Invert the cake and plate together. Remove the pan. Carefully peel off the parchment paper.
Recipe from Martha Stewart
I’m using this cake as my monthly What’s Baking challenge. Be sure to check out Catherine’s blog for the roundup later this month.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Welcome to the BBs. I did cucumber towers with mine the first time I made this, then stuffed cherry tomatoes and new potatoes for a work event today.
Your pics are great. Wish I’d thought of the salt.:-)
Hi Jen,
I just discovered your blog :). I’m Sophie from Flour Arrangements. In just about a week I’ll be moving to Boston (actually Cambridge) from Austin, and I’m hoping to start a cooking group when I get there. I actually TRY to cook dairy free too (although sometimes I need a little dairy in there, ya know?); so it’d be cool to have a fellow ‘somewhat non-dairy’ foodie in the group! Drop me a comment on my blog, or even an email, if you’re interested. It’s nice meeting you!
Oh, and feel free to tell any of your friends about it :).
Sophie
Flour Arrangements
Wow, these look really good and refreshing! NIICE!
Your idea of stuffing them into tomatoes is great! And great tip on using salt!
I love how you presented the dip. Nice work!
What a wonderful idea to stuff tomatoes! These look great!
These would be fun to make. I’ll bet the hardest part was scooping out the tomatoes. They make for a delicious and colourful appetizer.
excellent use of a dip! Love the salt idea.
THIS LOOKS MARVELOUS! I need to start back again with BB now that we are settled in the new digs.