Cranberry Upside Down Cake

My cranberry hoarding resulted in a freezer bag of unused cranberries, and I wasn't sure what to do with them. So I tried this cake, and oh my. My husband says it's one of the best things I've ever made. I might agree. So yummy. Okay, but since cranberries have to be imported, they may not always be available. But, I think this would work equally well with frozen blueberries or blackberries or any other berries. And the cake was really simple to pull together. I made it in a cast iron skillet, but you could make it in a round cake pan too.

8 T. butter
1 c. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 1/3 c. fresh or frozen cranberries
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. milk

Butter your cake pan or skillet with 2 T. of the butter. Butter it well! Mix together 1/2 c. sugar and the cinnamon in a bowl. Then pour the cinnamon/sugar mix into the buttered pan or skillet. Tilt the pan till the bottom is covered evenly. Arrange cranberries in a single layer in the buttered, sugared pan. In a medium bowl, cream together the remaining 6 T. butter and 1/2 c. sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternating between the flour mixture and the milk, gradually mix both into the butter mixture. Mix well. Spoon batter over the berries and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.



After the cake is done, I let it cool for about 5 minutes before inverting it onto a cake pan.


Note: Clean up is pretty sticky, but I think it's worth it.