This Paleo Banana Upside Down Cake is an impressive and delicious cake that’s gluten-free and refined sugar free. Sweetened almost entirely with bananas, this is a banana lover’s dream!
Yes, it’s still pretty much the first week of January and everyone’s still dieting, or at least trying/pretending to – right? Today, we’re keeping in theme with the rest of the world and having something a bit healthier.
No, it’s not a salad or soup or “detox” anything. Yes, I am giving you a cake as my one of my first posts of the new year – #judgeme. BUT, this is a cake that you could theoretically eat for breakfast without feeling guilty, so let’s embrace it, okay? 
The cake is gluten-free, refined sugar-free, Paleo-friendly, and absolutely FULL of bananas. Bananas are sort of magic when it comes to baking, particularly when they’re brown and yucky looking on the outside, but filled with sweetness on the inside. Bananas are the star of some of my all-time most popular recipes like my favorite Paleo Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread where bananas are the ONLY sweetener and these Vegan Blueberry Muffins, where bananas serve as an egg-replacer!
For the batter of this banana upside down cake, it’s best to use brown, super ripe bananas because bananas give all the sweetness the cake needs – there’s no other added sweetener except for the coconut sugar in the caramelized banana layer!
The batter is pretty much banana bread batter, but when you pour it over the banana slices nuzzled in a mixture of coconut sugar and coconut oil and let the bananas get golden and caramelized, you have to call this a cake.
Bananas are definitely the star of the show here – you’ll use at least five of them depending on their size – so this cake is for the true banana lovers. I used ONE Bananas, which I love because they’re organic, grown sustainably, and always sweet + delicious.
The true magic of this cake is revealed when you flip it over. The flip can be a stressful experience with any upside down cake, so to make my life easier I made the cake in a spring form pan. That way, when it’s finished you can take off the collar, gently flip it on to your plate, and peel off the bottom of the pan. Much easier than flipping and crossing your fingers it all comes out in one piece.
When the pan comes away, you’re left with a gorgeous cake topped with caramelized bananas that no one would ever guess is a healthier option. The cake is soft, moist, and plenty sweet. I devoured a slice with a cup of tea as an afternoon snack, and my dad inhaled three slices as dessert. It would be a fabulous, impressive brunch item too! Grab your bananas and get baking :) enjoy!
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Paleo Banana Upside Down Cake
Save Print Prep time 15 mins Cook time 40 mins Total time 55 mins Author: Rachel Conners Serves: 9" cake Ingredients - 4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 2 bananas, sliced
- 1½ cups mashed banana (3-4 bananas, or 425 grams)
- 3 eggs
- ⅓ cup (105 grams) almond butter (or nut butter of choice)
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- ⅓ cup (57 grams) coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9” springform pan and place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment or foil.
- Combine the melted coconut oil and coconut sugar. Spread in the bottom of the prepared pan. Arrange the banana slices over the coconut sugar. Set aside while you prepare the batter.
- In a large bowl or mixer, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla extract and nut butter until fully combined.
- Add the coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt to the wet ingredients and mix well.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until the cake is lightly golden brown. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, and then carefully flip out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
This post is sponsored by One Banana. As always, all opinions are entirely my own! Thanks for supporting the brands that support Bakerita! :)
There's more where that came from!
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Paleo Banana Blueberry Muffins
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Paleo Banana Blueberry Swirl Cake
Banana Crumb Cake (Dairy Free)
