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. 






Three ingredients? Amazing, I can’t wait to try this for myself!
beantownbaker — February 3rd, 2013 @ 9:42 pm
If you make it, let me know what beer/fruit combo you use. I can’t wait to try different combinations.
I just made it last night and used frozen strawberries and Shock Top Honeycrisp Apple Wheat. Amazing!!! So creamy without any dairy. I’ll be posting the recipe on my site next week.
beantownbaker — February 4th, 2013 @ 9:44 pm
First of all, I haven’t had that beer, but it sounds tasty on it’s own. I’m sure it was delicious with the strawberries in this sorbet. So glad you enjoyed it. Let me know when your post goes up!
what an interesting idea! love that you can still taste the individual flavors 🙂
beantownbaker — February 4th, 2013 @ 9:44 pm
I loved it too. Even though when you say Strawberry and Beer Sorbet people kind of look at you like you’re crazy….
This sounds awesome and I know my husband would love it but we don’t have an ice cream maker. Is there an alternative way to make it?
beantownbaker — February 7th, 2013 @ 6:20 pm
I haven’t made it without an ice cream maker… Here’s an article from David Lebovitz on how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/07/making-ice-crea-1/
Hi there. The current Food on Friday on Carole’s Chatter is collecting links to posts about ice cream and sorbets – or anything similar like gelato. I do hope you link this in. This is the link . Please do check out some of the other links – there are a lot of good ones already. Have a great week.
Jen , thanks for joining the link up for Food on Friday on Carole’s Chatter. I hope you enjoyed looking at some of the other links. I have been reading them all and must say my ice cream cravings are now almost out of control! Cheers
Ps I am signing up to follow your blog. A follow back would be great – or maybe you have already?
I work in a brewpub in Boulder. I’m gonna try this out with fresh peaches, honey, and a strong belgian golden ale. I’ll let you know how it goes.
beantownbaker — August 16th, 2013 @ 8:18 am
Oh man – that sounds awesome. I have a TON of peaches in my house right now… I just made a blueberry variety the other night.