November 6th - Upside-Down Bananas Foster Coffee Cake

Runners have a natural affinity for bananas.  So combining bananas with dessert was something that I had been wanting to do for awhile.  And bananas foster is one of my all time favorites, so I was trying to think of a way to combine that into something that could be baked.  Using a modified recipe for my very successful apple coffee cake, I tried something that I called "upside-down bananas foster coffee cake."

First I basically made bananas foster:

• .5c brown sugar
• 4tbsp butter
• pinch of cinnamon
• 4 bananas, sliced

1. Combined ingredients in saucepan over low heat
2. Poured mixture into greased 9x9in cake pan

Then I made the cake:

• 1 stick butter
• 2 eggs
• 2c flour
• 1.5c brown sugar
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1tsp cinnamon
• .25tsp nutmeg
• 1c sour cream
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• .25tsp salt
• .33c cinnamon chips
• .5 chopped walnuts

1. Poured cake batter over the bananas foster mixture
2. Baked at 350 for 45 mins
3. Flipped over the pan to get the "upside-down" effect

RESULTS - 

Unfortunately, bananas foster is not quite as delicious after it has been baked for 45 minutes.  The taste changed significantly, and it wasn't exactly what I had expected.  I definitely should have added more cinnamon to both the cake and the bananas foster "topping."  It essentially became a modified banana bread instead of coffee cake with a banana twist.  To bring it back toward the "cake" end of the spectrum, I added some quick icing:

ICING - 

• 1c powdered sugar
• .5tsp vanilla extract
• 4tbsp softened butter
• 1tbsp coffee

With the icing, the whole thing became more of a traditional banana nut cake than my original intention of it being a coffee cake.  Don't think I will be making this one again...  Oh well, you live, you bake, you learn!