Pumpkin Cranberry Upside-Down Cake
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.
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped and toasted
½ cup agave nectar
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
*
3 cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
*
¼ cup grapeseed oil
½ cup agave nectar
3 eggs
2 cups fresh baked pumpkin (learn how to roast pumpkin in 10 easy steps!)
- Line an 8 x 8 inch pyrex dish
with a piece of parchment paper (use scissors to cut to size)
- In a medium bowl, combine cranberries, walnuts, agave and grapeseed oil
- Pour cranberry mixture into lined baking dish
- In a large bowl, stir together almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
- In a vita-mix, 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° 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
Serves 24
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.
Posted on November 12, 2007 in desserts by Elana
you might also like: Pumpkin Pie Muffins
or Chocolate Cake — Coconut Flour Continued
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12 comments
I'm not a total do it yourself-er. Can you substitute canned pumpkin??
Sue,
I'm not sure how everything would turn out as I haven't made this recipe with canned pumpkin. This would be a great experiment! If you try it, please let us know your results either here or in the forums.
If you don't want to experiment, you can always pose your question in the forums to see if anyone else has tried it.
Elana
Thanks for this absolutely delicious recipe!!
I made this for Canadian Thanksgiving and it was fabulous!
I made a few substitutions/changes because I didn't have any grapeseed oil and was running low on almond meal and agave nectar:
-used 4 eggs instead of 3 and omitted the grapeseed oil
-used about 2 1/2 c almond meal (maybe even a little less)
-substituted about 2 tbs maple syrup for some of the agave nectar (in each the walnut-cranberry step and the wet mixture step)
-added about 2 tbs of rum to each the walnut-cranberry step and the wet mixture step
-added some ginger (say 1/2 tsp) to the dry mixture
I also tried dairy-free choco chips instead of cranberries (and baked in a separate pan). I think the chocolate overpowered the delicious pumpkin flavor and wouldn't recommend it...everyone liked the cranberry version better!
li,
Thanks for sharing the results of your experimentation with us. I think the chocolate version sounds really interesting, I wouldn't have thought of that. I bet my boys would love it.
Thanks Again,
Elana
In cutting the parchment paper, it is just to fit the bottom of the pan?
Lisa,
Yes, it is to fit the bottom of the pan.
Elana
Do you think fresh cranberries (chopped) would work the same? Should I adjust the amount? I think this would be a great dessert to bring to my family's Thanksgiving feast!
Stephanie -I'm not sure if that would work, haven't tried it. If you do, please let us know how it turns out.
I did make this and offer it as one of the dessert choices for Thanksgiving. I am allergic to eggs as well as dairy, grains, cane sugar and gluten, (basically vegan PLUS meat, :) )so I replaced the 3 eggs with 3 T flax seeds ground and 7 T of water. I also hadn't read the forum yet, that suggested that Bobs RM almond flour was not a good choice.
It came out AWESOME! The texture was a LOT like pumpkin pie. I think I could have even baked it in a pie dish and left it upside down with the walnut, cranberry as a crust.
My next quest will be to try to convert a vegan pumpkin ice cream recipe that I found on the web to agave instead of using brown sugar. Have you tried anything like that yet?
Thank you again - for sharing. There were several of your recipes on my Thanksgiving table - including the cranberry relish and pumpkin custard.
Christina,
Glad you liked this recipe!
When I make ice cream I use my cashew milk recipe as the base. Coconut milk works too.
Elana
[...] Rita and I went over the cake recipes that I had been considering and settled on Elana’s Pumpkin Cranberry Upside Down Cake with modifications based on Christina’s comments regarding flax seed for an egg substitution. [...]
I've made this a couple times now. The first time I used fresh pumpkin, the other ~3 times I've used canned pumpkin. Elena's ratios in the recipe definitely work best with fresh pumpkin--I haven't been able to tweak it to get the right texture with canned yet. I've tried adding more almond meal, adding another egg, etc...Although it seems that fresh pumpkin gives a better texture, it's still delicious with canned!
So very excited as my Honeyville Almond Flour has arrived!! Planning on making the pumpkin cake recipe above, but it looks like pyrex no longer makes 8 x 8 pans (can't find them in the stores). I have a metal 8 x 8, or I suppose I could opt for a 7 x 11 pyrex. Does any one have any advice? I've noticed that many of Elana's recipes use pyrex, having never tried one of the almond flour recipes before I'm looking for advice. My family's counting on me to bring the healthy delicious desserts, I would hate to blow it cause of the pan, so any help would be appreciated!! PS: Elana, I've made the almond butter blondies, the chocolate banana cake, the kale w/cherries, and absolutely every one of your recipes brings rave reviews. Thank you so much for this amazing website & Happy Thanksgiving!