Mini Cranberry Orange Upside Down Cakes
Dec 20, 2016, Updated Nov 09, 2023
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Mini cranberry orange upside down cakes are a great dessert for a party or holiday gathering. Made with fresh or frozen cranberries, brown sugar, butter and an orange cake.
The holidays have seriously snuck up on me this year. I feel like I am a little behind on everything (including this blog post). This is why I like to have recipes that taste delicious but are simple to make. No one will ever know that I have been in my yoga pants all day running around like a crazy person when they take a bite of these cutest ever mini cranberry orange upside down cakes.
I love the combination of orange and cranberry. The sweetness of the orange balances out the tart of the cranberry. For the mini cakes I used left over frozen cranberries from Thanksgiving and a yellow cake mix. I know, not from scratch but I did change it up a little by using orange juice instead of water and added orange zest.
To Make:
In a small saucepan heat butter and brown sugar. Spoon into muffin cups.
Add fresh or frozen cranberries, just enough to cover the muffin cup.
Mix together cake mix ingredients and then spoon on top of cranberries. Bake for 20-25 minutes and let cool for 5 minutes before turning out on plate.
These cakes are great to serve all year round. I am LOVIN the mix of sweet orange cake with the slight tartness of the cranberries. You can serve them warm out of the oven or even room temperature. I also enjoy them with a small dollop of whipped cream.
If you enjoy orange and cranberry, be sure to check out orange roll monkey bread and cranberry lime spritzer.
Mini Cranberry Orange Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 yellow cake mix
- Enough orange juice to replace water on cake box package
- Oil and eggs called for on package
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
- Spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.
- Mix cake mix, orange juice, oil and eggs until well combined.
- In a small saucepan stir butter and brown sugar over medium heat and cook until butter melts. (about 3 minutes)
- Spoon 2 teaspoons of butter mixture into each muffin tin.
- Add a layer of cranberries and then fill each cup 2/3 full with cake batter.
- Bake 20-25 minutes.
- Cool for 5 minutes and then take knife around cake edges of each cup.
- Invert on to a baking sheet.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can you make this cake with a regular sized bundt pan?
I LOVE CRANBERRIES!! I want to make these but was wondering are they storable? like freezer or frig if so how long? Thanks they look scrumptious!!
You can store them in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 2-3 days. I like to warm mine up in the microwave. I have not tried freezing them. Thanks!
Is there anything else to use to substitute the brown sugar? Or, could you leave it out completely? If so, would you just put the butter down?
I have never used a substitute for the brown sugar. It gives the cake the glaze on top of the cake.
I had a lot of cake batter left, nearly enough for 2 dozen cupcakes in all. I think next time I will try to double the toppings part and have enough to make all of them the same. Such a yummy recipe otherwise, everyone loved them.
Can I make these ahead?
Yes, they would be ok to make a day ahead.
These are really good. I also made bundt cakes,they were the mini pans. I used 4 mini bundt pans and 1 cupcake 12 count pan. Still had enough batter left for about 2 more cupcake size. I took another reviewers advice and added orange zest to the batter.
This recipe is it was fabulous and very light and refreshing for the holidays. However I did use mini Bundt pans which was cute and added some orange zest to the batter . Made a orange powdered sugar icing to drizzle on top. (orange zest, powdered sugar and a squeeze of orange)