Peach and Cranberry Upside down cake

Ahh, the Christmas and New Year's festivities have come to an end. Goodbye lovely Christmas traditional food, goodbye all my excuses to just eat one more bite...come on, anything goes at Christmas. Not so, Not so. Goodbye fridge full of lovely leftovers. The only thing left in the fridge from Christmas I could find were a few bags of fresh cranberries I forgot to use. My bad. In the past I have made fresh cranberry sauce, but since the family standard is so low, they all demanded the canned jellied stuff back. Really, are you sure I'm not adopted? What to do with these sweet tart cranberries I held in my hands? Maybe a nice quick bread? Some cookies perhaps? Or no, how about a cake? Do I dare? Yes I do dare.

I really love pineapple upside down cake, but if I am faced with deciding between pineapple upside down or something chocolate...I will always choose chocolate. Needless to say I don't usually make pineapple upside down cake. Okay, um what does a pineapple upside down cake have to do with all my leftover cranberries? Well I decided to use a pineapple upside down cake recipe and just swap out the fruit. I imagine you can use many fruits instead of the pineapple and get equally as delicious results. Next time I am going to try apples or pears. I was going to try a full on Cranberry upside down cake, but really wanted to mix it with another fruit. This ended up being a clash of the seasonal fruit...peaches in the summer, cranberries in the winter...not usually found together in dishes. So I went with canned peaches on this one...not my first choice, but I had them on hand. I was extremely pleased with the results and plan on making this again, and soon...oh wait it is diet month...maybe I will make it again in February...ahh, what the heck, maybe for dessert tonight instead. : )

Peach and Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt butter in skillet. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, four minutes. Remove from heat.

3/4 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar

Pour melted butter/sugar mixture into a parchment lined 8x8 or 9x9 pan.

1 can drained, sliced chopped peaches, juices reserved for cake batter
2 cups rinsed fresh cranberries

Sprinkle fruit evenly on top of mixture, set aside.

In mixing bowl beat the following until smooth:

3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar

Scrape down bowl and slowly add the following, mix until smooth:

2 large eggs

Then beat in the following until combined:

1 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBS dark rum or Bourbon, optional
1/2 cup reserved peach juice or milk

Batter will appear slightly curdled, don't worry that is fine. Scrape down bowl and add the following:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix until combined and pour over fruit/sugar/butter mixture. Spread out evenly to completely cover the fruit. Bake 45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean from center of cake. Cool 5 minutes and then flip cake over onto a platter.

Serve cake warm or at room temperature with fresh whipped cream.

Cake may be made one day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving.

In other news I am recently obsessed with Masterpiece BBC series...Foyle's War, Inspector Lewis, Wives and Daughters Love it, watch it. Eat this while you watch them, now that sounds like a winning combination on a cold winter's eve. Count me in.