Paleo Cranberry Lemon Cake is a delish addition to the holiday! A perfect mixture of sweet & tart + made with healthy ingredients!
*Post updated 10/26/2022*
We created this paleo cranberry lemon cake recipe in 2014. EIGHT YEARS AGO. WOW. The blog was just up and coming then and Rachel and I were college sophomores!
To date, this upside-down cake is still one of our most popular holiday recipes and I totally understand why.
First off, it’s pretty to look at. The color of the cranberries and lemon just pops and makes you want to devour it. Secondly and most importantly, it tastes amazing.
I originally made this cake with the addition of lemon curd (which I totally recommend by the way), however, I didn’t have enough eggs to make it so I did without and it was still a 10/10. I have also made it with the addition of drizzled white chocolate for extra sweetness! Whatever you do, it will be delicious, I promise!
Here is what you need to make this recipe:
cranberries – fresh or frozen
lemon zest
maple syrup OR honey
coconut flour- no other flour works here! Coconut flour is different in the way it bakes compared to other flours 🙂
canned pumpkin puree
almond milk or milk of choice
baking soda
pure vanilla extract
lemon juice
eggs
Optional – lemon curd, pecans and white chocolate
Paleo Cranberry Lemon Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups of frozen or fresh cranberries
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- juice of half a lemon
- 1 tbsp honey OR maple syrup
- 2-3 tbsp water
- 3 eggs beaten
- 1/4 cup milk non-dairy or dairy
- 1/4 cup honey/maple syrup
- 1/3 canned pumpkin can also sub 1/3 cup mashed sweet potato, 1 mashed banana or 1/3 cup applesauce
- juice of half a lemon optional, it makes it have a more lemony taste!
- 2 tbsp lemon zest optional
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- Pecans option
- Lemon Curd optional
- melted white chocolate optional
Instructions
- 1. Place cranberries, zest, lemon juice, honey and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the cranberries "pop" and create a compote, set aside. This step takes 5-10 minutes.
- 2. In a medium size bowl, mix together eggs, milk, honey, pumpkin, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla. Mix well to combine.
- 3. Add the cinnamon, baking soda and coconut flour to a small bowl. Mix until ingredients are combined then add flour mixtureto the wet ingredients. Mix well until a batter forms.
- 4. Spray cooking spray on the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan or 8x8 pan. You can also line the pan with parchment paper.
- 5. Spread Cranberry compote evenly on the bottom of the pan.
- 6. Spoon the batter evenly on top of the compote.
- 7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until top is golden. Let cool and then take the cake out of the pan and carefully flip over so that the cranberry side is on top.
- 8. Top with Lemon Curd, pecans and white chocolate,if desired!
- *Adapted from Beauty and the Foodie
Like This Recipe? Pin For Later!
Want more cranberry recipes? Check out these recipes:
Pumpkin Cranberry Skillet Cake (paleo & vegan-friendly)
Oooh, this sounds like a lovely dessert! Yum!
thank you! 🙂
YUMMY. love this. cranberry + lemon sounds perfect together.
Oh my heavens…not only is that BEAUTIFUL, I’m pretty sure I would just want to eat spoonfuls of all of the components on their own. 🙂 Thanks for this! I’m going to have to try it.
This looks amazing! I love all things lemon, and this looks like a good blend of flavors! I am definitely going to try this recipe!!
This looks amazing! I love all things lemon, and it looks like a great flavor blend with the cranberry! I am definitely going to try this!!
aww thanks!
awwww thanks so much!
thank you! I love lemon too!
I love lemon curd! Another delicious looking recipe!
Oh my gosh these look & sound amazing! Love the combo of cranberry & lemon.
That does looks all sorts of delicious!
🙂
This looks absolutely delicious! I do appreciate you sharing with A Return to Loveliness,
Kathy
YUMMY!!!
Visiting from Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop. I love the flavours in this cake, it sounds really good. I would love for you to stop by and share this and other recipes with us over at Sweet and Savoury Sunday. Have a great day!
thank you! WIll do!!
thanks!
This looks so good and I am trying to male it but the recipe doesn’t specify how much honey goes in what.
im so sorry, 2 tbsp in the cake and 2 tbsp in the compote
Bethany And Rachel recently posted…Banana-Peanut Butter Cheesecake Oatmeal Cups
How much pumpkin goes into this recipe? Is it 1/3 of a can of pumpkin? or 1/3 cup?
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Love the shoe! Quick shipping! Great condition!
Smooth transaction! Thank you!
What would u recommend as a substitute for the cranberries?
you can sub in any kind of berry 🙂
I used frozen blueberries and it worked great!
Blueberries sounds amazing! Thanks for making it, Vikki! Hope you enjoyed 🙂
Baked for 30 mins at 350 and cake never really rose or got cake? Is this supposed to turn out more like an apple crisp where the dough/batter is kind of crumbled on top? I used a 9 in round cake pan? Maybe that was the problem? Definitely had a Pinterest fail! 😩
Can’t find the lemon curd link
Oops, sorry about that! THe recipe for the lemon curd is found here:http://www.texanerin.com/paleo-lemon-curd/
Yum! I love pineapple upside down cake and this version looks incredible, too!
Thanks Rachel 🙂
Which amount of syrup goes in the cranberry compote and which amount goes in the batter?
Hi Michelle,
1 Tbsp goes to the cranberry sauce, 1/4 cup goes to the batter. Hope that helps!