Our banana upside down cake has gooey caramel, sliced bananas, with a super moist buttermilk banana cake, all topped off with a light and tangy cream cheese frosting drizzled over top.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9x9 inch pan and set aside. Slice bananas and set aside.
In a small saucepan over medium heat melt your butter. Once butter is completely melted add in your brown sugar, and salt.Stir continuously for 2 minutes. It will start to bubble and the mixture will come together. You do not want to have this mixture over the heat longer than 2 minutes or it will begin to crystallize.
Pour into the bottom of the greased pan and spread evenly across the bottom. Place your bananas on top of the caramel immediately. You’ll want to have your bananas sliced and ready to go because the caramel will start to cool and set and it will be difficult for the bananas to sink into the caramel.
Cake and Cream Cheese Drizzle:
Cream together butter and sugar for 1 minute. Add eggs one at a time, beating in between for 2 minutes until light and creamy. Add in bananas, salt, and vanilla, beat until smooth.
Combine the baking soda and buttermilk. Alternating adding the buttermilk and flour into the batter. Once completely combined pour batter on top of sliced bananas and caramel. Bake for 38-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. The top of the cake should be a deep golden brown color.
While cake is baking make your cream cheese drizzle. Whisk together cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Whisk in vanilla, salt, and milk until smooth.
Let cake cool for 10 minutes then invert the pan onto a plate or platter. Drizzle cream cheese glaze over top. Slice and enjoy.
Notes
Real buttermilk is always best, but in a pinch you can substitute milk + an acid. For this I would do ¾ cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, let the mixture stand for 10 minutes before using. This will give it time to curdle and become thick. OR 6 tablespoons of yogurt + 6 tablespoons water, mixed OR ¼ cup thick Greek yogurt + ½ cup water, mixed