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Upside-Down Banana Bread Cake

Averie Sunshine

4.42 from 36 votes

Updated: May 30, 2025

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🍌🍞🍰 Upside-Down Banana Bread Cake combines two of my favorite recipes into one incredible treat! A decadent spin on banana bread, it elevates the loaf with caramelized bananas and a sweet flavor I know you’ll love.

Easy Upside Down Banana Cake

I’m a sucker for banana bread anything. With 40+ banana bread and banana recipes and counting, what’s one more? This is an easy recipe that’s adapted from one of the most popular recipes on my site, Cream Cheese-Filled Banana Bread.

Rather than baking it in a loaf pan, I baked it in an 8×8-inch pan, added banana slices, and a heavenly butter and brown sugar topping that caramelizes as the cake bakes. Caramel sauce and bananas go hand in hand.

If you’re looking for a light and airy banana cake, this isn’t it. It’s denser, and the texture is like banana bread. (If you’re craving classic banana cake, try my banana cake recipe instead!)

I like to enjoy this soft, rich banana upside-down cake as both a breakfast and a dessert. Either way, with a nearly five-star review, it’s definitely a keeper!

Recipe Ingredients

To make the best banana bread cake recipe, you’ll need:

• Unsalted butter
• Light brown sugar
• Bananas – Use ripe bananas for the topping, and mash bananas for the batter. I don’t recommend frozen bananas. The excess liquid is likely to make the bread soggy
• Egg – I haven’t tested this recipe with egg substitutes and cannot guarantee your results if you do. Let the eggs come to room temperature for easy mixing
• Granulated sugar
• Canola oil – The recipe uses oil rather than butter, so there’s nothing to cream and no mixer to dirty. Oil also keeps quick breads and cakes softer and springier than butter.
• Sour cream
• Vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour – I personally haven’t tested it, but I imagine a 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour would work well if you need a gluten-free recipe
• Leaveners- Baking powder and baking soda help create a tall, fluffy loaf. Make sure they’re fresh for the best results
• Salt

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

How to Make Banana Bread Cake

This is a straightforward recipe that anyone can prepare! Before you begin, I recommend lining your baking dish with aluminum foil or parchment paper before pouring the caramel topping into it. If you line with foil, it’s also much easier to lift the cake out with the foil overhang, place a cutting board on top of the cake, and invert. 

Follow these simple instructions:

1. Make the caramelized banana topping: Add the butter and brown sugar to a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Pour the wet mixture into the bottom the prepared tin, and lay banana slices on top in an even layer. When slicing the bananas for the topping, I recommend slicing them on the thicker side, otherwise they’ll ‘disappear’ into the sauce as the cake bakes!
3. Make the banana bread batter: Simply add the wet ingredients and dry ingredients to a mixing bowl, and whisk to combine. There’s no need for a hand mixer or stand mixer!
4. Bake the cake: This banana bread cake needs to bake until it’s set in the center and a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs but no batter. Note that in the final moments of baking, I noticed the caramel sauce mixture bubbling up around the sides of my pan. Be sure to watch your pan so nothing bubbles over, or place your pan on top of a baking sheet in the final moments.
5. Let cool: The cake needs to cool for at least 3 hours before inverting it. 

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4.42 from 36 votes

Banana Bread Cake

By Averie Sunshine

🍌🍞🍰 Don't settle for making another loaf of plain banana bread when you can have caramelized banana slices on top of soft banana bread cake! A decadent spin on banana bread, it's the BEST use for your ripe bananas!

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cooling Time: 3 hours hours

Total Time: 4 hours hours

Servings: 9 servings

Equipment

• 1 (8×8 inch) Pan
• 1 Large Saucepan
• 1 Large Bowl
• 1 Wire Rack

Ingredients 

Topping

• ▢ ½ cup unsalted butter
• ▢ 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• ▢ about 2 to 3 medium/large ripe bananas, sliced into thick rounds (about 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick)

Cake

• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• ▢ ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil, liquid-state coconut oil may be substituted
• ▢ ¼ cup cup sour cream, lite is okay; or Greek yogurt may be substituted
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 cup mashed ripe bananas, about 2 to 3 medium/large bananas
• ▢ 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste

Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8-inch pan with heavy duty aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.

Make the Topping:

• To a large sauce pan, add the butter, brown sugar, and heat over medium heat to melt butter; whisk or stir nearly constantly to mix the sugar into the melting butter.
• Once butter has melted, allow mixture to come to a boil and boil for about 30 to 45 seconds. Pour sauce into prepared pan.
• Add the banana slices (slice them on the thicker side or they’ll ‘disappear’ into the sauce as the cake bakes) in an even flat layer for complete coverage over the pan, with about 1/2-inch space between bananas. They don’t have to be perfectly spaced out; set aside.

Make the Cake:

• To a large bowl, add the the egg, sugars, oil, sour cream, vanilla, and whisk to combine.
• Add the bananas and stir to combine.
• Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined; don’t overmix.
• Carefully and evenly pour batter over the banana slices, smooth lightly with a spatula as necessary, and bake for about 42 to 45 minutes, or until cake is set in the center and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs but no batter.
• Allow pan to cool on a wire rack for at least 3 hours (I cooled overnight) before inverting and serving. If you line with foil, it’s easy to lift cake out with foil overhang, place a cutting board on top of cake, and invert.

Notes

• Note: In the final moments of baking I noticed the caramel sauce mixture bubbling up around the sides of the pan; watch your pan so nothing bubbles over or place pan on top of a baking sheet in the final moments.
• Cake will keep airtight at room temp for up to 1 week.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 409cal, Carbohydrates: 60g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 52mg, Sodium: 177mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 43g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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ALL OF MY BANANA BREAD RECIPES! 

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Six-Banana Banana Chocolate Chip Cake — Yes, 6 bananas in 1 cake means it’s super SOFT, moist, and has robust banana flavor with chocolate chips in EVERY bite! EASY and one bowl! Now you know what to do with all your ripe bananas!

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting – The BEST banana cake recipe because it’s soft, tender, moist, and bursting with banana flavor thanks to the 4 bananas used! Tangy-yet-sweet cream cheese frosting takes this cake over the top and makes it a guaranteed family FAVORITE! Fast and easy to make!

Glazed Banana Zucchini Cake — With sweet vanilla pudding mix, ripe bananas, and grated zucchini, this cake is fall-apart soft and tender. It’s a snap to make with just a whisk, one bowl, and is ready to be baked in just minutes! 

Spiced Banana Apple Cake — Apple cake meets banana bread with a to-die-for glaze! Best ever!