The other thing is, well, my entire schedule. Work has been beyond busy. Believe me, I'm not complaining. I like to work and I like to be busy. This all comes, however, at a price...which is that this blog gets put on the back burner, pardon the pun.
During the recent Thanksgiving, I was in charge of making a few dishes to bring to a communal dinner. In addition to the killer brussels sprouts recipe I made (more on that later), I wanted to make a low maintenance dessert to take that would be a bit of a showstopper.
I ran across this recipe in a recent issue of Everyday Food. It's a magazine that I've been a reader of since its inception. It usually has simple recipes that are almost always sure things. This cake mixed two of my favorite things: fresh cranberry taste and the notion of upside down cake - pineapple upside down cake is one of my favorites. It was one of the easiest desserts I've made in recent memory and made quite an impact at dinner. Guests raved about the sweet cake balanced with the tart cranberry flavors.
Cranberry Upside Down Cake - originally found here at Everyday Food magazine - serves 8
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1 3/4 cups cranberries
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Rub the bottom and sides of an 8-inch round cake pan with 2 tablespoons butter. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar with the cinnamon and allspice. Sprinkle mixture evenly over bottom of pan; arrange cranberries in a single layer on top.
- With an electric mixer, cream remaining 6 tablespoons butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until well combined. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, until well combined.
- Spoon batter over cranberries in pan, and smooth top. Place pan on a baking sheet; bake cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake; invert onto a rimmed platter.
