Photo: Natalie Levin
I simply LOVE banana cakes! Banana cake is definitely one of my favorite pound cakes, and the truth is that every time I have some ripe bananas no one really wants to eat as they are – I make a banana cake with it automatically.
For quite long I felt like making an upside-down banana brulee cake. The idea of caramelized bananas at the top of a soft banana cake seemed delicious and pretty. The combination of a soft, warm banana cake with caramelized bananas at the top sounded just perfect to me. That’s how this next cake was thought of.
This is an easy-to-make, super fragrant, buttery upside-down banana brulee cake. It’s so delicious that banana lovers will fall in love with it. The batter combines vegetable oil and butter to get the rich buttery texture, but also the juiciness that the oil contributes to the texture. In short – if you like bananas, this cake is going to become your regular!
Photo: Natalie Levin
Upside-down Banana Brulee Cake
For the bananas:
- 3-4 small bananas (split lengthwise)
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar
- Soft butter to grease the pan
For the banana cake:
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) sugar
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) melted butter
- 30 ml. (2 tbsp.) vegetable
- 3 large eggs
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)
- 2 mashed bananas
- 210 grams (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
- 75 grams (3/4 cup) almond meal
- 10 grams (2 tsp.) baking powder
For caramelizing:
- 2-3 tablespoons of sugar
- Preheat the oven to 170c degrees.
- Grease the pan with butter generously.
- Sprinkle the base of the pan with sugar in a thin layer.
- Arrange the halved bananas at the bottom of the pan so that the cut part is faced down.
- Make the batter: in a bowl mix sugar, melted butter, oil, eggs, salt, vanilla and mashed bananas into a uniform mixture.
- Add flour, almond meal, baking powder and whisk until uniform.
- Pour the batter carefully over the banana layer.
- Bake the cake for 45-55 minutes or until it is golden, steady to the touch and a skewer inserted in its center comes out with moist crumbs.
- Cool the cake for about 5 minutes at room temperature.
- Run a knife through the sides of the pan and carefully turn the cake over a serving dish.
- Cool the cake completely at room temperature.
- Before serving, sprinkle some sugar over the bananas and burn using a blow torch. You can also burn it in the oven set to the highest temperature (grill) and bake for 2-3 minutes at the top of the oven.
- Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.
- Keep the cake in a closed container for up to 5 days, but it is recommended to heat it before serving.
- You can use brown or white sugar, depending on your taste.
- Instead of almond meal you can use any other type of ground nuts that you like or ground coconut in the same amount.
Photo: Natalie Levin
Photo: Natalie Levin
Photo: Natalie Levin