Banana-Butterscotch Upside-Down Chocolate Cake

I recently bought this book, because if there's one thing I need, it's a cookbook dedicated to nothing but chocolate cakes, am I right?



I haven't made too many things out of it yet, mostly for the sake of my never-ending diet, but it did come in handy when I had a few bananas that were reaching the end of their lives. What is it about those last two or three bananas? We are never able to finish off that bunch. But when you get something like this as a result it's hard to complain too much. It was fun to make a cake so different like this, and my favorite part was the butterscotch sauce. The recipe is a bit extensive, but it's still a surprisingly easy cake to put together. Enjoy!

Banana-Butterscotch Upside-Down Chocolate Cake
By Chocolate Cakes

Ingredients

BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup golden corn syrup (I just used light)
3 large ripe but firm bananas, cut into 1/2 inches

CAKE:
1 cup cake flour
1/3 cup unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk


Directions

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 350. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan with side 2 inches high. Line with a piece of aluminum foil long enough to extend over opposite sides of the pan.

2. To make the butterscotch sauce: In a medium saucepan, cook the cream, butter, brown and granulated sugars, salt, and corn syrup over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter and sugars are melted. Increase the heat to medium-high, bring the sauce to a boil, and boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Pour the sauce into the prepared pa n, tilting the pan if necessary to spread it evenly. Arrange the banana slices in rows over the sauce, placing them close together. Set aside.

3. To make cake, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and granulated and brown sugars until smoothly blended, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each is blended smoothly into the batter and the batter looks creamy, about 2 minutes. Mix in the vanilla. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the buttermilk to blend it into the batter. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth. Scrape the batter evenly over the bananas. Gently smooth the top.

4. Bake just until the top feels firm when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake, but not the bananas, comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack. Carefully remove and discard the foil. If any bananas stick to the foil, replace them on the cake. Cool the cake thoroughly on the wire rack for about 1 hour. Transfer the cake to a serving plate.

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose when trying new recipes. This chocolate peanut butter mousse cake was unfortunately a loss for me. The cake was too dry, the mousse was too sweet and the ganache was a bit bitter for my taste, such a bummer because it was SO MUCH WORK! Oh well, live and learn right! Here's hoping for a win on my next cake!