My son’s viola teacher, Sandra, asked for advice regarding traditional Thanksgiving family fare. The next thing I knew, she had given me a copy of a recipe for Pumpkin Cranberry Upside-Down Cake featured in Sunset Magazine’s November 2007 issue. I made several changes to it, most notably removing the sugar, dairy and gluten and was pleased with the results.
This dessert is a rich, moist cross between a pumpkin cake and a pumpkin pie. Perfect for that post-Halloween, pre-Thanksgiving time of year. Try it on a windy day with a warm cup of tea.
Pumpkin Cranberry Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients
Cranberry Mixture
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped and toasted
- ½ cup agave nectar or honey
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil or palm shortening
Cake
- 3 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ cup grapeseed oil or palm shortening
- ½ cup agave nectar or honey
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups fresh baked pumpkin (learn how to roast pumpkin in 10 easy steps!)
Instructions
- Line an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with a piece of parchment paper (use scissors to cut to size)
- In a medium bowl, combine cranberries, walnuts, agave and grapeseed oil (or shortening)
- Pour cranberry mixture into lined baking dish
- In a large bowl, stir together almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
- In a vitamix, combine oil, agave, eggs and cooked pumpkin; blend on high speed for 30 seconds or until smooth like pudding
- Stir wet ingredients into dry
- Pour batter evenly over cranberry mixture
- Bake at 350°F for 40 to 50 minutes
- Remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes
- Run a knife around the edge of the baking dish, then place a large plate over the cake and invert cake and plate together
- Remove the baking dish from the cake and then peel off the parchment paper
- Allow to cool to room temperature and serve
Be forewarned, this may be the most complicated recipe I have posted to date. Even saying the multi-syllabic name of the recipe is work. The most challenging part in making this fall comfort food is getting all of the ingredients together. After that, it’s really just a quick three step process.
Thus far, this gluten free, dairy free, naturally sweetened pumpkin cake appears to be a big hit with young and old. My little boy and his friend Leo recently devoured half the cake in one afternoon.
Plafar says
Could you use coconut oil instead of grapeseed oil?
Elana says
Plafar, I haven’t tried that so not sure. If you do experiment please let us know how it goes!
Maria says
I just love your recipes but I am on a sugar detox so I cannot use Agave or honey (or any form of sugar) I would really like to try this recipe and many of your others. Do you have a conversion for Stevia rather than the other sugars. Thanks!
Megan Homan says
Made this recipe, really yummy! thank you :)
Pam says
Could you use coconut oil instead of grapes we’d oil?