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. 
this sounds really good-will be trying this!
This looks so tasty and easy to make! I need to get a crockpot.
I made that recipe last week – and everyone loved it! I only wish I’d gotten pictures…..
This looks wonderful. Bookmarking right now! Thanks!
Oh, boy this looks wonderful! I love slow cooker recipes like this. What side did you serve with it? Just veggies?
~ingrid
Both your cranberry recipes look great. I am hoping Santa brings me a new crockpot for Christmas as my previous one was nuclear. This recipe looks so easy. I am not a pie fan so am thinking the cranberry apple dessert would be nice for hubby and I for Thanksgiving. Thank you for sharing!
Yep just some steamed veggies.
I made this over the weekend and it was delicious! Thanks for the posting!
I finally made this recipe after having it bookmarked forever. Thanks to Kelsey for reminding me about it – it was soooo good and it definitely hit the spot!!! Thanks Jen!
I make this every year for Christmas dinner 😀 We always go out for a fancy Christmas Eve dinner, and then we have a huge fancy Christmas Breakfast… by the time Christmas dinner comes around we are wiped out and not really in the mood to cook. This recipe is perfect because I can throw it all in the crock pot on Christmas Eve morning and pop in in the fridge. Then on Christmas day I put it on low and put wild rice in the rice cooker. My family always looks forward to it and we just love how delicious it is. I really wanted to let you know that this has been a tradition for us for about 3-4 years!! Thanks so much and Merry Christmas!!
beantownbaker — December 26th, 2013 @ 11:06 am
I love hearing stories like this! Family traditions are so heart warming during the holidays 🙂
Nice recipe – Thank you. I love slow cooker recipes. Have a Happy Weekend!