I never knew that upside down banana cakes were a thing until I stumbled upon the recipe on Donna Hay again. There are a couple of ways to make an upside down banana cake. I’ve seen recipes where the banana is sliced across and recipes where the banana is sliced longitudinally. I actually just had a laugh when I read the way I was describing the direction to slice the banana. I can’t think of any other way to explain it.

To make this cake, first you’ll need to melt the butter and sugar over the stove to make like a caramel to drizzle over the bananas. Arranging the bananas in the pan is a form of art which I lack patience in. But in hindsight, arrange the banana slices, overlapping it slightly to create this beautiful base. Then pour the caramel over it. Once that is done, start making the cake batter. Remember to leave the cake to stand first for 10 minutes before turning it onto a plate to serve.

Ingredients

1. 30g unsalted butter
2. 50g brown sugar
3. 120g caster sugar
4. 250g self-raising flour
5. 3 bananas sliced
6. 4 eggs
7. 1 tsp cinnamon powder
8. 1 tsp vanilla essence
9. 100ml olive oil

Directions

Preparation time: 20min
Baking time: 50min or when the skewer comes out clean

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees
2. Heat 30g butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until the butter had melted. Increase the heat to high, bring to the boil and cook for a further 1 minute and set aside
3. Arrange the banana slices, overlapping slightly in a lightly greased 22cm round cake tin
4. Pour the caramel over the banana slices and set aside
5. Place the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 8–10 minutes or until the mixture has tripled in volume
6. Sift the self raising flour  and cinnamon powder over the egg mixture and fold to combine
7. Fold through the olive oil
8. Pour into the tin and bake for 1 hour or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before turning onto a platter to serve. Serves 8–10.