Fresh cranberry cake: A tangy twist on the classic dessert

Many of us are still unconvinced about using fresh cranberries in baked goods. They are usually seen as a beautiful, colourful addition. Cranberries in a cake? They're too sour—my friends were quite sceptical not long ago. That was before they tasted this dessert.

Kinga Paruzel, known from the first "MasterChef" series, has penned several cookbooks and actively shares her recipes on social media. She published this cranberry cake recipe on her blog in November 2012. Thus, I first baked it over ten years ago. It always turns out splendidly.

"I decided to unwind in the kitchen and made a delicious cake with fresh cranberries. It's perfectly sweet, the cranberries offer a great tangy taste, and their juices soak into the fluffy, buttery cake" - Paruzel wrote on her blog.

Indeed, making this cake can truly be called relaxing. Moreover, the aroma that fills the kitchen during baking brightens the mood. Although cranberries have a tangy taste that some fear, they become delightful when combined with sugar and cinnamon, and the cake lacks any bitter notes.

This cake is a variation of upside-down baked goods. It all began with tarte Tatin, now a classic among French desserts. Its name comes from the Tatin sisters—Stéphanie and Caroline, who invented such a pastry. The tart originated accidentally at the end of the 19th century in Lamotte-Beuvron in France, where the sisters managed their hotel. Legend has it that one day, Stéphanie Tatin, distracted while making a traditional apple tart, let the apples caramelise. To rescue the dessert, she covered them with a layer of pastry and placed the whole thing in the oven. Thus, the original tart was created, which needs to be flipped after baking.

Cranberry cake is similar but without pre-frying. The cranberries are placed on the bottom of the pan, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, and then covered with a layer of buttery cake. The tangy fruits “bake” in the sugar and cinnamon. After flipping, their layer looks spectacular.

Ingredients:

• 115 grams of butter,
• 200 grams of sugar,
• 1 egg,
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon,
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract,
• 180 grams of flour,
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder,
• ¼ teaspoon salt,
• 120 millilitres of milk,
• 150 grams of fresh cranberries.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Spread two tablespoons of butter on the bottom and sides of a 23-centimetre round baking pan, then evenly sprinkle 100 grams of sugar mixed with half a teaspoon of cinnamon across the bottom.
3. Pour in the fresh cranberries, previously washed and dried.
4. Beat the remaining butter with the remaining sugar until fluffy. At the end, add the egg and vanilla extract and mix well.
5. Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl.
6. While continuously mixing the butter mixture, add the flour mixture and milk alternately in three parts.
7. Pour the batter over the cranberries into the prepared pan. (You can protect the bottom of the pan with aluminum foil to prevent the melting butter and cranberry juice from spilling into the oven.)
8. Bake for approximately 40-50 minutes (until a skewer comes out clean).
9. When the cake is ready, remove it from the oven and let it cool on a rack for about 20 minutes. After this time, place a plate over the pan and flip it so that the cranberries are on top.