BANANA UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

A very delicious banana cake!

Back in the UK for a spell I did my customary sweep of the five local charity shops.

I found three cookbooks at £1.50 each.  They all appeared to be brand new.

The one entitled "the baker" is very much a "how to bake" book not just a collection of recipes.

The recipe for banana upside down cake caught my eye.

On the way home from the charity shop I called for some milk at the corner shop and spotted two bunches of bananas reduced in price so that clinched it!

The recipe said to line bottom and sides of the cake tin but I opted for using a circle of paper that was bigger than the tin and therefore came up the sides a bit.  It seemed to work.

The recipe said to use a 20cm tin which to me seemed a bit small.  I couldn't fit the right number of bananas in the bottom and also the quantity of mixture filled the tin more than I would normally do.  I came to the conclusion that 20cm was a mistake and would use a 23cm tin next time.  

It produced a very deep cake which dipped alarmingly in the middle!  The picture in the book shows a shallower cake with more sliced bananas on top, lending weight to my theory that the tin size stated was incorrect.

The recipe also included a lot of sugar and less flour than I would have expected.

However, the cake looked stunning and tasted divine!

It was very sweet and very bananery.

In the book it says it should be eaten on the day of baking.  Certainly the next day it was a bit more moist but equally delicious and the day after that made an excellent pudding warmed and served with ice cream!

I would definitely make it again - it would be good for a cake sale - but I would use a larger tin and possibly slightly less sugar.

Ingredients

For the banana topping

50g unsalted butter, melted

60g light soft brown sugar

6 large ripe bananas, peeled and cut into half lengthways

    (Using the size of tin stated I only fitted in 3 medium bananas)

For the cake

125g unsalted butter, softened

230g light soft brown sugar

2 eggs (I used medium)

185g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 large very ripe bananas, mashed (mine were medium)

Method

Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm round cake tin.  I used a springform tin and see my notes about the size of tin and lining above.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan.

Pour the melted butter over the base of the tin and spread out with the back of a spoon if necessary to make sure the whole of the base is coated.  Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top.

Arrange the cut bananas in a pattern over the top of the sugar, cut side down.

To make the cake, using electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar until lighter and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Sift the flour and baking powder over and fold in, followed by the mashed bananas.

Spoon the mixture carefully over the sliced bananas and level the top.  Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake passes the skewer test.

Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out upside down onto a wire rack to cool.  Sit the rack over a dinner plate to catch any drips of the topping.  

Cuts into 8-10 generous slices.  Best eaten on the day it is made (see my notes above).