If you’re looking for something a little something different for your holiday table, give this recipe for gluten free cranberry orange sage upside down cake a try. Delightfully spiced, fruity, and with just a background hint of sage (to make your tastebuds say “hummm, what is that?!) It’s light top off to a heavy holiday meal. Don’t get me wrong, pie is great, but it’s good to have options!
One of my favorite things about November and December in Michigan is cranberry season. Heck, I love all the flavors of the holiday season. Cranberry, orange, sage, and all the warm spices that come along with them. But it can be really hard to find recipes to serve guests to meet their dietary needs, particular those that require a gluten free dessert.
This recipe is inspired by Alice Water’s Cranberry Upside Down Cake, as featured by The New York Times. I added a little “what’s that” with the addition of sage and cardamom, as well as made it gluten free. You’re guests will never guess it’s GF though. Even my cranberry hating kids dove right into it!
This recipe uses Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-1 Baking Flour. I cannot attest to how other gluten free flours will perform in this recipe, so if you use something else, know that your results may vary. Bob’s GF 1-1 is my favorite and tends to work really well as a sub in many of my favorite recipes. It won’t work for yeasted bakes though, so beware.
I cannot wait for you to try my Cranberry Orange Sage Cake. Let’s bake!
Jump to RecipeCranberry Orange Sage Upside Down Cake
Equipment
- 9 inch round cake pan
- Small bowl
- Large mixing bowl
- Stand mixer or Hand mixer
Ingredients
Topping
- 4 Tbsp Unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
- 3/4 cup Brown sugar
- 9 oz Fresh cranberries (2 2/3 cups)
- 1/4 cup Orange juice
- 2 tsp Orange zest
- 6-8 Leaves Fresh sage
Batter
- 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-1 Baking Flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 8 Tbsp Unsalted Butter (one stick), at room temperature
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 2 Eggs (separated)
- 1/2 cup Whole milk
- 1/4 tsp Cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp Cardamom
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Topping- Upside Down
- Place butter, sage leaves, and brown sugar in a 9-inch round cake pan and bake.
- Check back often and stir. When the sugar starts to bubble and caramelize, remove pan from the oven.
- Cool.
- Zest an orange, to yield 2 tsp.
- Juice the orange (s) to yield 1/4 cup.
- In a small bowl, combine cranberries, orange zest, and orange juice.
- Toss to coat.
- Remove sage leaves from the brown sugar mixture. (Make sure it is cool, so you don't end up with sugar burns on your hands!)
- Distribute the entire cranberry mixture, even the juice,evenly in the cake pan, on top of the brown sugar mixture.
- Set aside.
Cake
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together Bob's 1-1 Baking Flour, baking powder, cardamom, and salt.
- Set aside.
- In a stand mixer, or with a handheld (it will take longer) cream butter with sugar until pale, light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla, and mix until just combined.
- Beat in egg yolks one at a time, scraping bowl once or twice.
- Add flour mixture alternately with milk, ending with dry ingredients.
- Set batter aside.
- Using a stand mixer or handheld mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, egg whites with cream of tartar just until whites are stiff enough to hold a slight peak.
- Carefully fold whites into batter 1/4 at a time.
- Gently spoon batter into prepared pan, taking great care not to deflate the egg whites, and spread it evenly over cranberries.
- Bake until top is browned and cake pulls away slightly from edges of pan, 35-45 minutes.
- Let cake cool for 15 minutes before turning onto cake plate.
Can’t get enough of orange and cardamom, make sure you check out my recipe for orange cardamom blondies! They served as the base for the s’mores that got me into The Feed Feed and Ghiradelli’s 2019 Summer S’mores contest.
