Made with some of the most commonly available ingredients in any kitchen, this upside down banana cake is a delicious dessert that you cannot say no to!
Bananas, butter, brown sugar, castor sugar, all-purpose flour, baking powder and vanilla essence – that’s all the ingredients that you need to bake this beautiful cake!
If you are new to baking, like me, this upside down banana cake is a fabulous cake to include to your list of baking ideas! It’s easy to prep, looks fantastic, and tastes gorgeous!

Bananas coated with a delicious caramel topping forms the heart and soul of this cake.
Imagine cutting through the top layer of caramel and banana, followed by the soft and spongy cake, and scooping it out all at once in a spoonful! The explosion of flavours when they melt in your mouth, that’s what you have to visualise to get cracking.
This is a super-easy cake to bake! Making a caramel sauce and placing sliced bananas is the first part of this recipe.

Then comes the difficult part – beating eggs and castor sugar! You have to beat eggs and castor sugar with the vanilla extract like your life depends on it. I don’t have an electric whisk. I had to resort to the classic method of beating as much as you can! After the tasting the final result, I can proudly say that I managed to get enough air into the mix.
Sift baking powder and all-purpose flour and fold to the egg-castor sugar mix. Fold in some melted butter as well, and we are done with the cake mix. Pour this into the baking tin which is already lined with caramel and sliced bananas. Bake for 45 minutes at 160 degrees Celcius.
You have baked a delicious upside-down cake on your own! Share it, savour it, and love it!

Check out the recipe below. This recipe is my version of a brilliant banana upside down cake from Donna Hay! If you like this recipe, don’t forget to check out my Caramel Custard and Bread and Butter Pudding recipes as well.
Upside Down Banana Cake
Ingredients
- 3 bananas peeled and sliced
- 40 gram butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
Wet Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup castor sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour maida
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
To fold in
- 120 gram butter melted
Instructions
- Prep ingredients - Sift together the baking powder and all-purpose flour. Melt butter. Slice the bananas across the length.
- Grease the cake tin. I used a small 7 inch tin. You can use an 8 inch tin for the same measurements.
- Heat a pan and melt butter and brown sugar on a low heat while stirring occasionally.
- Once it's all melted, increase to a high flame, and bring to boil while stirring continuously.
- Pour into the already greased cake tin.
- Place the sliced bananas on the hot caramel in the cake tin. Arrange them with the flat sides facing down. Keep this aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs followed by adding the castor sugar and vanilla extract.
- In the meantime, preheat your over to 160 degrees Celsius.
- Beat vigorously for about 10 minutes.
- Without an electric whisk, I managed to get a thick mixture, which was more than double in volume before I started beating.
- Fold in the dry ingredients by adding the sifted baking powder and all-purpose flour.
- Fold in the melted butter as well. Our cake batter is ready.
- Pour this batter into the cake tin which has our caramel and banana.
- Bake for 35 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it means the cake is done.
- If it's not ready, bake for a few more minutes and check again. My cake was done in 40 minutes.
- Cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edges pushing against the tin. Carefully invert onto a plate.
It looks awesome. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Thank you very much, Baishakhi 🙂
Yummy! This is such an appetizing dessert, Arun! I bet is tastes finger-licking! Can I use almond flour for this treat?
Thank you Agness!! 🙂
Yes, almond flour is a good replacement for the all-purpose flour!! It’s not easily available in India. I was going by easy to source ingredients.
And, it was finger-linking good!!! 🙂
Wow, this cake looks amazing! I’ve never seen this kind of cake before, so I’m definitely looking forward to giving this recipe a try.
Thank you very much Cait!! I am sure you’ll like it!
This sounds delicious, seems easy, and looks magnificent! I’m not much of a baker, (definitely prefer to cook) but this looks do-able!
Hi Esther,
I am also new to baking! Like you said, this one is do-able!! 🙂
Oh wow! That looks delish!
Thank you very much Kim!!!
“You have to beat eggs and castor sugar with the vanilla extract like your life depends on it.”
😄 😄😄
going to give this a shot! Could you suggest an alternative for butter and all purpose flour. We’re trying to go healthy this month
😀 😀 😀
Based on experience!!!
To be honest I haven’t really tried baking without butter or/and all-purpose flour! Let me do some research and how I can help you with your health goals!!
Haha love it! Thank you so much 😊 Looking forward to your healthy hack
Hi Rasana,
I have found something for you. Finally! 🙂
You could substitute butter with buttermilk or a thick yogurt (like Greek yogurt). For one portion of butter, replace with 1/2 portion buttermilk or yogurt.
All-purpose flour is a little more tricky. Almond flour is mentioned in many recipes, but I am not sure if it’s easily available in India. You could try whole wheat flour. Problem is, it could make the cake dense! Use less than 3/4th of all-purpose flour measurement.
And a disclaimer – I haven’t tried any of these yet, but based on research I feel the aforesaid options will do justice to the recipe!! 🙂 🙂