Hailed by wax as the BEST cake he’s ever eaten, this little beauty is the bees knees of banana cakes. I got the idea of creating this ultimate caramel cake from the king of baking himself, Dan Lepard. His book Short and Sweet is the bible for all things delicious. He gives you great hints and tips for baking and most importantly, what to do when things go wrong – obviously I have these pages dog eared. His idea of bubbling the soft banana with a rich caramel is genius. However, I thought there was room for even more caramel – enter smitten kitchen. She has a caramel walnut upside down banana cake on her blog that caught my eye. But to make it crunchy instead of gooey (first world problems right there) we took out the corn syrup and added baking soda and also substituted peanuts for the walnuts. These photos don’t really do it justice, but I can ensure you it will be an absolute hit.
prep time 30 minutes // cooking time 60 minutes // serves 10 generously
for the cake
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup sunflower oil
3 eggs
1/4 cup greek yoghurt
1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup wholemeal, spelt or rye flour
2 tsps of mixed spice – ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
for the butterscotch bananas
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups chopped banana
1 tbs butter
2 tsps vanilla extract
for the crunchy peanut caramel
1/2 cup butter
1 cup soft brown sugar
3/4 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 tsp baking soda – dilute in 1 tsp water
putting it together
To make the crunchy caramel, line a spring form pan with baking paper *** tip alert – scrunch the baking paper into a small ball and then reopen, it will fit much better into your tin!*** Bring butter and sugar to the boil in a saucepan, stirring constantly until butter melts. Boil for 1 minute and then stir in peanuts and baking soda. Spread into the cake pan and leave to cool completely.
To make the butterscotch bananas, tip the caster sugar into a saucepan with the water, bring to the boil then cook over high heat until the sugar turns to a rich dark-golden caramel. Add the banana, butter and vanilla, reduce the heat to gentle and cook until the bananas break up in the caramel. Leave to cool.
To make the cake, beat the sugar with the oil and eggs until thick and slightly aerated, then beat in the cooled bananas and yoghurt. Sift the flours, spice, baking powered and baking soda together 2 or 3 times, then fold this through the banana mixture. Pour the mixture into the cake pan, heat the oven to 170 and bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out with just a few tiny moist crumbs stuck to it.
Serve this warm with ice cream – we think Hokey Pokey is the best little friend for this cake.