This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This Banana Upside Down Cake will satisfy even the sweetest sweet tooth. A gloriously spongy cake soaks up all the flavors of bananas swimming in a decadent, syrupy caramel-rum sauce.
Decadent Bananas Foster Cake
Are you a fan of banana foster? You know, the classic dessert made with bananas, brown sugar, butter, and rum, served over vanilla ice cream? If so, you’re in for a treat with this twist on the traditional recipe. I basically took everything good about bananas foster, put it in a baking dish, spread cake batter over it, baked it, and then turned it upside down (it is an upside down cake). The resulting cake is super spongy and fluffy and absorbs all the sweet, ooey-gooey of the bananas foster sauce.
Looking for more bananas foster-inspired recipes? You have to try these Bananas Foster Crepes and my Bananas Foster Cheesecake. Oh, and shout out to my Pineapple Upside Down Cake. It definitely served as an inspiration for this fabulous dessert!
Why I Love This Upside Down Banana Cake
- Perfect texture: The cake itself is super spongy, so it absorbs the gloriously gooey bananas foster sauce like no one’s business. The sauce turns the cake super moist and decadent. It’s insanely good.
- Deep, caramel-y flavor: I love the way the natural sugars of the bananas and the sweet sauce marry together in the heat of the oven to create this irresistible caramel-like flavor.
- Waste not: Ok, so you bought too many bananas again, and you’re kind of sick of banana bread. This banana upside down cake is a great way alternative!
Ingredient Notes
Ready to get started? Here’s what you’ll need to make this upside down banana cake. Check out the recipe card below for a printable list.
For the Bananas Foster Sauce
- Bananas – I like using bananas that are just barely speckled, but a little riper is fine, too.
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar – Dark brown sugar will also work. It will yield a richer, more molasses-y flavor.
- Ground cinnamon – If you’d like to add a pinch of nutmeg as well, go for it.
- Dark rum – Don’t worry. The alcohol will cook out.
For the Cake
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder – The baking powder helps the cake rise so that it isn’t overly dense.
- Sugar – I used granulated sugar. If you want to use half granulated sugar and half light or dark brown sugar instead, you can.
- Salt
- Eggs – Whites and yolks separated. Oh, and make sure the eggs are at room temperature. They will mix more easily into the batter.
- Apple juice – Orange juice would also work here.
- Pure vanilla extract
- Unsalted butter – You’ll want to melt the butter and then let it cool for a few minutes before you use it.
How to Make Banana Upside Down Cake
Here’s a quick look at how to make this fabulous upside down cake. Be sure to scroll to the recipe card below for more detailed instructions and notes.
- Prep. Preheat oven to 400˚F and grease an 11×7 brownie pan with cooking spray. Arrange the bananas in the pan, cut side down.
- Melt. Combine butter, light brown sugar, and cinnamon in a skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Keep cooking until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved.
- Rum magic. Add the rum slowly and cook for 30 seconds or so before lighting the rum on fire. Let the flames subside.
- Pour. Pour the sauce over the bananas.
- Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Combine the wet ingredients. Beat the egg yolks on high speed until lemony yellow. Turn the mixer to low speed and mix in the apple juice and vanilla, followed by the melted butter.
- Put it all together. Gradually stir in the flour mixture.
- Add volume. Beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and then gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
- Assemble. Spoon dollops of the cake batter over the bananas and spread to cover the fruit.
- Bake. Bake in the bottom half of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Cool. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cake platter. Let it cool for an additional 20 minutes before slicing.
Tips & Tricks
- Keep things moving: When melting together the butter, sugar, and cinnamon, stir the mixture continuously to ensure even cooking.
- Safety first: When lighting the rum on fire, do so with a long lighter or a long match and step back. Otherwise, you might burn your eyebrows off!
- Don’t over-mix: When folding the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mix just until everything is incorporated. Over-mixing will cause the glutens in the flour to overdevelop, resulting in a tough, dense cake.
- Maintain volume: When folding the beaten egg whites into the cake batter, do so gently and just until everything is incorporated. Mixing too aggressively or for too long will knock the air out of the egg whites, ending you with a flat cake layer.
- Bake in the bottom half of the oven: Baking the cake in the bottom half of the oven helps give the bananas that nice caramelized color and flavor associated with bananas foster.
- Toothpick test: Some ovens bake hotter or colder than others. This cake generally takes 25-30 minutes to bake, but you’ll want to check on it a few minutes before that. Insert a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out mostly clean with a few crumbs, the cake is done. If the batter is still clinging to the toothpick, it needs more time. Pop it back in the oven and continue checking on it every 3-5 minutes.
How to Store
- Refrigerator: Once the cake has cooled completely, wrap it tightly with a double layer of plastic wrap or seal slices in an airtight container. You can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Freezer: Wrap the cooled banana upside-down cake in a double layer of plastic wrap or seal slices in an airtight container. It will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow the cake to thaw in the fridge before enjoying the leftovers.
More Easy Cake Recipes
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Bananas Foster Upside Down Cake
The classic and very delicious Bananas Foster Sauce on top of a lovely, rich and flavorful cake.
Ingredients
For the Bananas Foster Sauce
- 3 to 4 bananas,, halved longwise
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup dark rum
For the Cake
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature,, white and yolks separated
- ½ cup apple juice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter,, melted and cool for about 3 minutes before using
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400˚F.
- Grease an 11×7 brownie pan with cooking spray, or you can also use an 8-inch cake pan or an 8×8 brownie pan. (***see notes)
- Arrange the bananas, cut side down, in the prepared pan and set aside.
For the Sauce
- Combine butter, light brown sugar and cinnamon in a skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until butter is melted, sugar dissolved and mixture is well combined.
- Slowly add rum and cook until heated through.
- Using a lighter, stand back and carefully light the rum.
- Shake the pan a bit until the flames subside.
- Remove from heat and pour over prepared bananas; set aside.
For the Cake
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt; set aside.
- In your mixer’s bowl, beat the egg yolks for 4 to 5 minutes on high speed, or until lemony yellow.
- With the mixer on low, add apple juice and vanilla.
- Slowly add the melted butter and continue to mix until combined.
- Gradually add in the flour mixture, about 1/4-cup at a time; continue to mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- Remove bowl from mixer and set aside.
- In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the flour mixture. (***see notes)
- Spoon dollops of the cake batter over the bananas and using an offset spatula, gently spread the batter, covering the fruit.
- Set a baking sheet on the bottom of the oven.
- Bake the cake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Invert the cake onto a platter.
- Let the cake cool slightly; about 20 minutes.
- Cut into squares and serve.
Notes
***FOLDING THE EGG WHITES: Move the spatula across the bottom of the bowl; bring it back up the other side, carrying some of the mixture from the bottom over the surface. Repeat, rotating the bowl until the ingredients are combined. DO NOT overmix.
***BAKING PAN: I like using my 11×7 pan for smaller cakes and brownies. If you do not have one, please don’t use a 9×13 pan for this cake, as the pan will be way too big for the amount of cake batter. Use an 8×8 brownie pan or an 8-inch cake pan, if possible.
Nutrition
Calories: 322kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 76mg | Sodium: 229mg | Potassium: 342mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 46g | Vitamin A: 290IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 79mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Did you make a recipe? Leave a rating
I made this with 1 cup cream of coconut, 1 tbsp butter and some cinnamon as my sugar mixture, and covered it with 2 boxes of those jiffy banana muffin mix because that was all i had and it came out incredible. Thank you so much for this recipe idea. Next time I will make your exact recipe because that sounds so good as well.
Followed the directions, but my carmel seems like it’s going to be very hard an inedible. Don’t know where I went wrong.. anybody?
It’s in the oven now.
Very disappointed as the batter smelled DELICIOUS. Probably user error so I want to correct it for my next attempt.
Hi!
I’m sorry you had problems with this :(. I hope the cake turned out, though…fingers crossed! Cooking the caramel for too long – doesn’t take much, even a second – is what will make it harden up real fast.
I had the same problem. I tried TWICE haha once I mixed all the sugar and butter first and then heated up. But the sugar wasn’t melted like at all. And then it got hard because I kept trying to melt. Second time I melted butter first and then added sugar to hopefully help melt it. Same issue. I give up. This recipe made me mad ๐๐๐ oh the struggle
Hi!
A couple of things that may help; keep the heat at medium-low and stir very frequently while the butter is melting and the sugar is dissolving. Using a whisk to mix it all together may also help.
This is such a brilliant recipe! I am wondering if the pan gets discoloured from lighting it, though. I have several pans that I reserve for better recipes and will try to use a pan that does not really bother me if it would happen to get discoloured.
I can’t wait to make this. Thanks for the beautiful recipe!
Can I do this with a cake mix? I need to cut my prep time…
I wanted something kind of challenging to make today and chose this. Never made a carmel before, and mine came out VERY dark brown (maybe because
I used really dark spiced rum, who knows ) and I didn’t light the pan after I put in the rum. Guess what, it still turned out WONDERFULLY. I used an 8×8 pan and mine was in for 23 minutes before fully cooked. Let it sit for 30 minutes and flipped it, and it slid out without any resistance. Perfecto. I got quite a few surprised faces when the family tasted it, and I’m pretty sure we will all have it devoured before the night is over.
Dark rum is awesommmme!! ๐ But yes, it will darken the cake! hehe
So happy though to hear that you loved it! Thank YOU!!
Looks absolutely amazing!
So… was the yolk and flour mixture supposed to be as GD thick as it was? It was walking that batter/dough line quite finely… folding the egg whites into something like that was definitely a new experience.
My cake is in the oven right now, so I hope it turns out!