A cranberry cake with ruby red juicy cranberries on a white plate on top of a wooden board and a small knife.

The crown of a cranberry plant, carrying lush, shiny, ripe red cranberries and long fine dark green leaves, held by two hands of a person with a blue shirt.

A fruiting Calamondin orange tree, with ripe orange and unripe green orange fruits and fresh green leaves. The tree is hessian wrapped, standing next to a composition of wood wool and an orange twig. Two The Gluttonous Gardener wooden gift crates are placed in the background with several hessian wrapped orange plants and other green plants in terracotta pots.

Glorious cranberry cake

If you’re not a fan of traditional Christmas cakes, but still love festive bakes, try this easy and impressive upside-down cake, which uses ruby-red cranberries and fragrant oranges.

Don’t be put off by the upside-down element; it just requires careful greasing of a solid cake tin and a little confidence.

The result will be a rich, dense, almond flavoured cake, beautifully adorned with an crown of jewel-like, orange scented cranberries. Serves 8.

175g soft butter
180g Demerara sugar
Finely grated zest of one orange or 3 Calamondin oranges
180g fresh or frozen cranberries
1 egg
1 tsp almond essence
150g plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
5 tbsp ground almonds
Pinch of salt
5 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 180/160 Fan.
Paint the base and sides of a 20cm cake tin with two tablespoons of melted butter. NB don’t use a loose-bottomed tin, as the topping will leak out!
Divide the sugar into two bowls and set one aside.
Mix the sugar in the remaining bowl with the orange zest and scatter it evenly across the bottom of the greased tin. Sprinkle the cranberries over the top.
Cream the remaining butter and sugar together until fluffy then beat in the egg and almond essence.
Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and ground almonds together.
Gradually add the dry mix to the creamed butter and sugar, pouring in a little milk between each addition until all the ingredients have been used up.
Dollop the cake mixture carefully on top of the cranberries and gently smooth until you have an even surface, making sure the cranberries stay on the bottom of the tin.
Bake for 50-55 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the tin to loosen the sides of the cake, and then place a plate over the top of the tin.
Carefully invert the cake on to the plate, then tap the top to help release the cake.
Gently ease the tin away to reveal your glorious cake and stand back to marvel at your creation before serving to your chosen few.