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

Print Save

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.

    Pin It

34 Responses to “Spicy Peach Jalapeno Jam”

  1. #
    1
    Shannon — September 19, 2013 at 9:23 am

    ooh, i am drooling thinking about this over melty brie!! fabulous 🙂

    • beantownbaker — September 25th, 2013 @ 4:08 pm

      It’s definitely as good as it sounds.

  2. #
    2
    Queen Sashy — September 20, 2013 at 9:55 am

    what a lovely jam! there are still some peaches at the market and i need to make this asap.

  3. #
    3
    Claudia — September 20, 2013 at 12:11 pm

    Sounds wonderful! When do you add the liquid pectin and how long do you let it boil after you add it?

    • beantownbaker — September 25th, 2013 @ 4:14 pm

      Sorry about the mistake in the recipe, I have updated the recipe to reflect when to add the pectin.

  4. #
    4
    Rima — September 21, 2013 at 10:32 am

    That sounds delicious, but when do we add the pectin, and can we use powdered pectin instead of the liquid one? Thank you so much…

    • beantownbaker — September 25th, 2013 @ 4:15 pm

      Sorry about the mistake in the recipe, I have updated the recipe to reflect when to add the pectin.

      I’m still new to canning, but I read in the Ball book that you can’t swap different kinds of pectin and should only use what the recipe calls for…

  5. #
    5
    Loretta — September 23, 2013 at 11:26 am

    when do you add the pectin ??????

    • beantownbaker — September 25th, 2013 @ 4:15 pm

      Sorry about the mistake in the recipe, I have updated the recipe to reflect when to add the pectin.

  6. #
    6
    Kelly — September 28, 2013 at 7:11 pm

    How long does this keep?

    • beantownbaker — September 28th, 2013 @ 8:36 pm

      If you process the jars in a water bath, they will be fine on a shelf for up to a year. Once opened, you want to refrigerate it and it will keep for about a month in the fridge.

  7. #
    7
    Toni — June 21, 2014 at 10:04 am

    The number of cups of chopped peaches would be very helpful. Also, are the pectin pouches 3 or 6 oz?

  8. #
    8
    Megan Wilson — July 15, 2014 at 3:12 pm

    The flavor was outstanding! However, it never fully set-up into a jelly. It was more of a jam/thick sauce – even after re-processing with a 2nd pack of pectin (I gave in and used the powder) On my other batches, I used 2 dry packs – and I’m not sure if those will even set correctly. 🙁

    • beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:22 pm

      Sorry to hear this didn’t set up for you…

  9. #
    9
    Nick — July 17, 2014 at 2:57 pm

    With sealed jars what is the shelf life of something like this?

    • beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:22 pm

      In general, I would try to open them within 6 months. I have kept jars of jam for up to a year without any problems.

  10. #
    10
    Lindsay L — July 28, 2014 at 8:57 am

    This is my second year making this and i just wanted to tell you that it is outstanding. i’m sure others are wondering about yield — I got 9 half-pints from one batch. How long do you process this? I did 15 mins to err on the side of caution. Thanks!!

    • beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:26 pm

      I always process for 10 minutes.

  11. #
    11
    Dee Ann — August 2, 2014 at 11:52 am

    Does this make the five half-pint jars shown or does it make more? Since everything sort of comes together at the end in canning (hot jam, sterilized jars, etc., and boiling water) I like to know ahead of time how many jars to prepare. Thanks.

    • beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:28 pm

      It made 6 jars for me. It will depend how big your peaches are too.

  12. #
    12
    Roxanne Riddle — August 10, 2014 at 11:23 am

    With my jams, I usually use real lemon juice, but not in such large quantity,Did you use fresh or “jarred” lemon juice?

    • beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:29 pm

      Yes, I use jarred lemon juice here.

  13. #
    13
    Blaire Prince — August 17, 2014 at 3:17 pm

    According to “foodinjars.com” you can substitute 2 TBSP powdered pectin for 1 pouch of liquid pectin. 🙂 just thought I’d share that little tidbit! This recipe is FANTASTIC! Thanks Jen!

    http://foodinjars.com/2013/07/canning-101-how-to-substitute-pectin/

    • beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:30 pm

      Thanks for sharing this!

  14. #
    14
    krista jackson — August 24, 2014 at 11:34 am

    I am looking forward to making this jam this evening!! I was seaching for a recipe for peach and jalapeno jam and this one caught my eye! Because you posted it my the day I was married, then reading your story and that you live in Cincy! I was born and raised north of that area!

    • beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:31 pm

      Small world! I hope you enjoyed this jam.

  15. #
    15
    Kim — August 28, 2014 at 5:44 pm

    This recipe should come with a warning label. I feel like I just made crack. I changed it up a bit and used cherries instead of peaches. I was having a hard time finding a cherry pepper recipe and had cherries in my freezer needing evicted and this one looked so good I used it as my baseline. THANK YOU for sharing it! If you are interested, it was a mix of sweet and tart cherries, and I added an extra jalapeno to a double batch. I just got done putting up nearly 11 pints of the stuff and am sitting here like a child licking the residue off my ladle it is that freaking good. Definitely recommend you try it with cherries some day if you like them. I am picking peaches this weekend and will definitely be making this as posted because I am sure it is divine. Ive been making jams and jellies since i was a child and this is the best one yet. Thank you again, can’t wait to try it properly with peaches!

    • beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:32 pm

      Cherries! What a great change. I’m goign to have to try that out.

  16. #
    16
    Bonnie Kandalec — September 2, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    It would have been nice to know how many jars I would need to make this recipe!!!

    • beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:33 pm

      I got 6 jars. I’ll update the recipe to reflect the yield.

  17. #
    17
    Christine — July 10, 2015 at 7:39 am

    Oooooh. I am making this this weekend – thanks for a fantastic-looking recipe!

  18. #
    18
    Sam — July 12, 2015 at 9:04 pm

    First time jam maker. Went to the farmer’s market this weekend and bought peaches and jalapenos (along with a bunch of other stuff). Thought I’d try my hand at making a jam/jelly because we love it on pork chops. This recipe was perfect. Thanks for sharing… and thank you to Google for popping it towards the top of the search list. Thank you Beantown Baker!

  19. #
    19
    Daina — July 27, 2015 at 2:28 pm

    How long do you need to water bath can it??

  20. #
    20
    McCaverty — August 16, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    Made this today – delicious but decidedly soupy. I thought maybe once it cooled it would set up more, but no.

Leave a Comment