Banana Coconut Upside Down Cake

My parents had us over tonight for dinner - we had bourbon salmon and salad.  

Then for dessert my mom made two amazing upside down cakes – nectarine and banana coconut.  We especially loved the second one – it tasted like it was topped with bananas foster.  Here’s the recipe (it makes 2 cakes):

Banana Coconut Upside Down Cake (adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything)

Ingredients:

·        1 Betty Crocker yellow cake mix

·        3 eggs

·        ¼ cup vegetable oil

·        ½ cup sour cream

·        ½ cup water

·        8 bananas, sliced ¼” thick (my mom made one cake with bananas and the other with nectarines – this recipe is for 2 banana cakes)

·        1½ cups shredded coconut

·        1 cup packed brown sugar

·        ½ cup butter

·        2 T lemon juice

·        ¾ cup toasted almonds, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and generously spray two 8” round cake pans with cooking spray. 

2. With an electric mixer, beat cake mix, eggs, oil, water, and sour cream on low until combined.  Beat on high for 2 additional minutes. 

3. Place banana slices evenly on the bottom of the two cake pans.

4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter.  Add brown sugar and lemon juice and heat until dissolved.  Pour half the brown sugar mixture into each of the 2 round cake pans over the bananas.  Sprinkle coconut and toasted almonds over the brown sugar sauce. 

5. Pour cake batter into the two pans, dividing equally.

6. Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. 

7. Invert onto serving dishes and slice to serve.  

This would work great with any fresh fruit - here is the nectarine version: