*This post is sponsored by The Quaker Oats Company as part of their ‘More Taste, Less Waste’ campaign. All thoughts and opinions are my own, naturally.
As most of you probably know by now, I’ve spent the last few months focusing on using up easily wasted foods by combining them with the power of oats as part of the inspired and truly important ‘More Taste, Less Waste’ initiative run by The Quaker Oats Company. An astonishing 130 billion pounds of food is
wasted each year- mostly fruits, vegetables, dairy and grains. With the holidays right around the corner,
there are many ways that you can pair the versatile and nutritious oats with other seasonal ingredients
to create both sweet and savory dishes. This Holiday season I’ve been really focusing on how I can use up what for me is my most commonly wasted food in December: Cranberries.
I’ll often buy a bag so that I can use the berries as a garnish. Usually the majority of the bag gets thrown in the trash once it’s sat in the refrigerator for a few months…but not this year! No. This year I’ve been a cranberry-using fool! I’ve thrown them in hearty oat muffins, they’ve starred in oatmeal cookies, found their way into smoothies, pavlovas, and oat-crusted pies. Last but not least, I want to share them with you in my favorite application – CAKE.
This cranberry upside down cake is pure cozy comfort. The cake itself is a soft, hearty oatmeal cake, simple and rustic. What makes it shine is the glossy, jewel-like cranberries baked into the bottom of the cake. When it’s finished cooking and is flipped over, the berries make a beautiful, festive topping. You could certainly serve this cake as a stunning dessert at any Holiday gathering, but more importantly, its sugar-conscious makeup and oat-laden structure make it a delicious breakfast cake. It’s almost like warm, spiced oatmeal comes to life in cake form. For a dessert, try serving it alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream. For breakfast, a dollop of vanilla yogurt on top would be just the ticket!
- FOR THE CRANBERRY TOPPING:
- ⅓ cup Raw Cane Sugar
- 1 cup Apple Cider or Juice
- zest of one Orange
- 2 cups Fresh or Frozen Cranberries
- FOR THE CAKE:
- 1 cup Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
- 1 cup Apple Cider or Juice, hot
- 1¾ cups AP Flour
- 2¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Cloves
- ¼ teaspoon Allspice
- 3 Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- ⅔ cup Plain Yogurt
- ½ cup Applesauce
- 3 tablespoons Honey
- ½ cup Olive Oil
- FOR THE CRANBERRY TOPPING:
- Grease a 9" springform pan and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.
- Whisk together the sugar, apple cider, and orange zest in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium/high heat. Cook down for 9-10 minutes, or until the syrup thickens. Pour the syrup over the bottom of the prepared cake pan. Place the cranberries on top of the syrup and press down lightly to form them into one single layer, covering as much of the bottom as possible. Set Aside.
- FOR THE CAKE:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the oats in a bowl and pour the hot apple cider over the top. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Place the four, baking powder, baking soda, sat, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
- In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, yogurt, applesauce, honey, and olive oil together until smooth.
- Pour the bowl of wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients, along with the softened oats. Stir together until just combined and pour over the top of the cranberries in the cake pan. Wrap a piece of tin boil around the bottom of the pan(to keep the syrup from leaking out of the bottom of the springform).
- Bake in the preheated oven on the bottom rack for 45-50 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove pan from oven and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Run a knife along the sides of the cake pan. Very carefully, using oven mitts, invert the cake onto a serving plate. Unlatch the sides of the pan and lift off. Carefully lift the bottom of the pan off of the top of the cake and slowly peel back the parchment paper. If desired, drizzle the cranberry topping with honey for more sweetness and gloss.
- Serve cake warm with vanilla ice cream.
