Cranberry and Orange Upside Down Cake

I love cranberries, I love them crisp and sharp and this time of year, as they are such a seasonal fruit, I stock up with as many as I can justifiably lay my hands on (!) and use them up in anything and everything.  Actually, my favourite is to blend them with some orange juice for a curiously frothy, but very tasty drink.

This recipe came about when I was toying with making a steamed sponge pudding, I recently tried the Nigella version of this but I found the butter with the cranberries far to cloying and greasy.  I much prefer the crisp tart flavour of cranberries without masking them.  I always use cranberries with orange, as I think they go so well together.

Anyhow, enough waffle!  Here’s what I used :

Appx 100 to 150 grammes of cranberries (depends on the size of your dish)

Zest and juice of half an orange

1tb caster sugar 

4oz butter or margarine

4oz caster sugar

4oz self raising flour

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract 

Butter a small quiche or pie dish (the one I used was 7” diameter) 

Add the cranberries, the grated zest of half an orange, the juice of half an orange and a tablespoon of caster sugar and put to one side. 

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and then gradually add the beaten eggs and the vanilla extract.  Stir in the flour until all combined and fluffy. 

Add spoonfuls of the sponge mixture to the dish of cranberries and carefully spread out with the back of a spoon. 

Cook in a low oven until the sponge is cooked.  I cooked mine at 150^oC for 50 minutes. 

Delicious with custard, or you could use cream or even ice cream.