Banana Upside Down Cake

So far, oranges and pears have been turned upside-down in my kitchen. I have no idea why the same hasn’t been done with bananas sooner. Because hello, bananas and caramel? Meant to be. All sweet and sticky and gooey and so perfect! This cake is incredible. That upside-down fruit aside, the cake itself is super tender, moist, lightly spiced and basically the perfect base for all of your pan-flipping experiments. I hope you’re ready to make this right now!

This lovely Linda Lomelino recipe is very straightforward and completely irresistible. I turned this into a loaf cake because I didn’t have enough bananas to fit a round 9″ pan. The cake is adaptable and works in a round or loaf tin which is great. I also reduced the caramel a little bit but I found it was still sweet enough and just the right amount for me. I recently updated this post with new photos and some additions to the recipe itself.

I didn’t cook the butter and sugar together first as the recipe said, I simply did what I normally do with upside-down cakes. Pour the melted butter into the bottom of the pan, sprinkle on brown sugar and place the fruit on top to absorb it all while I make the cake batter. This is still as delicious, but you can definitely do a pre-cooked version if you like.

Speaking of cake, like I said, it’s lightly flavoured with spices and made super soft with yoghurt and is actually unbelievable just by itself. Would you look at it! A little bit of whipped cream is all you need to serve it with, and even that’s optional. All that sticky caramel is awesome enough as a topping!

Flipping the cake over is actually quite a painless affair if you do it just 5 minutes after it’s out of the oven. Use gloves or pot holders of course, but have no fear, it slides out neatly. As long as you grease the sides (the bottom is full of melted butter anyway) really well, you’re all good!

I hope you’ll make this todaaaaay! So good 🙂

Please read the recipe notes before beginning.

Banana Upside Down Cake

Caramelised banana topping with a soft, tender lightly spiced cake!

Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Cook Time: 45 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Makes: 6 slices

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Ingredients

  

For the bananas

• 1/4 cup butter (55 gms), melted (salted butter is fine)
• 1/4 cup soft brown sugar (55 gms; light or dark will work)
• 2 ripe but not mushy bananas, sliced in half lengthwise

For the cake

• 1 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (160 gms)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt if using unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 125 gms butter, at room temp (just above 1/2 cup)
• 3/4 cup caster sugar (140 gms)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup thick, plain yoghurt at room temp (150 gms)

Instructions

• First make the banana caramel layer. Pour the melted butter into the bottom of a 9x5 inch oaf pan (see notes) and use a little of it to also grease the sides well. Sprinkle the brown sugar on the butter and spread it around evenly. Place the sliced bananas over the sugar, cutting them as necessary to fit well. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 175 C.
• In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed till light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on low speed till combined.
• Now stir in the yoghurt and flour mixture alternately, starting and ending with the flour so that batter doesn't curdle.
• Fold with a silicone spatula or beat with the hand mixer on low speed, till you have a smooth batter but do not overmix. The batter is fairly thick.
• Spoon the batter on top of the bananas and smoothen the top. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, covering the top loosely with foil if it's browning too quickly. Bake until the top is golden-brown, and a toothpick comes out clean.
• The top may have domed very slightly, you can leave it as is or slice it off with a knife if you prefer. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes.
• Now hold the tin with gloves carefully and very gently flip onto a serving plate. Shake the tin slightly to release and then lift it off. It should slide out easily and in one piece.
• Allow the cake to cool completely at room temperature, then slice into 6 triangles and dig in! Great as is or with unsweetened whipped cream. I think this cake tastes and looks best on day one because the caramel will firm up as it's stored, but you can keep it in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, reheating individual slices as needed.

Notes

Shop this recipe: Caster Sugar, Brown Sugar, Hand Mixer, Mixing Bowl

*Watch this cake come together on Instagram!

*If making this cake in a 9 inch round pan, use 3 to 4 bananas as in the original Linda Lomelino recipe. Doing it this way also creates a lower cake to banana ratio if that's something you prefer. Her recipe also requires pre-cooking the caramel and uses muscovado sugar. If you want a deeper colour on the caramel, you can do it that way.

*And while we're talking about the colour of the caramel, the first time I made this cake, I used a standard metal loaf pan and the second time a white, ceramic-coated pan that I bought recently. I found that the second time, the caramel was definitely lighter in colour though the flavour was just as good. The lighter pan affects browning so if that concerns you, choose a regular dark metal pan. The updated photos above are with the new pan, the photo just below the recipe is from the older version using the metal pan.

*I haven't tried making this cake without eggs so can't guarantee the same result with a substitute. However, if you want to try, I'm guessing about 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of milk should work as a substitute, enough to make a smooth, spreadable batter. The cake may be a little fragile without eggs. Alternately, try this eggless butter cake with the same banana topping.

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