Banana Coconut Caramel upside-down cake

So... ever since the world of 'blogging' became a thing, I've been obsessed.

 I love blogs. I love reading about people's lives and the activities, crafts, or 

recipes that they are trying out. I live vicariously. Over any type of blog, though, 

I'm ALL about food blogs. You can blame The Pioneer Woman for that. 

Anyway... today, I'm going to realize a dream. I'm becoming a food blogger.

With pictures (from my phone, but still!). I'm ecstatic.

We had a big reason to celebrate last night -- my husband finally got the 

promotion that he's been working towards for almost 2 years! 

He has worked so hard and finally nailed it! So, I wanted to celebrate him 

and his accomplishment with a few surprises.
I went out and bought some champagne, 

a new movie (to add to our overwhelming blu-ray collection -- a whole 2 movies!), 

and a card. Then, I came home and made this little beauty....

I present to you... banana-coconut-caramel-upside-down-cake!!

 As you can see from the picture above, we were pretty eager to dig in that I 

didn't get a shot of the whole cake! It's ok, it wasn't that 

pretty anyway.... but BOY! Is it good!!

What you need:

• bananas (2 did it for me)
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup canola/vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I used fat free)
• 1/2 cup water
• shredded coconut
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (that's 1 stick)
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

First, pre-heat your oven to 350*. 

Start by mixing together the cake mix, eggs, oil, water and sour cream. 

I love anything that involves mixing because I get to use my favorite 

wedding present -- the KitchenAid stand mixer!

While that's doing it's thing, slice up the bananas. Start with 2
 and go from there, that way 

you're not stuck with a bunch of peeled bananas on your hands.
Spray your baking dish  really well with non-stick spray.
I used an 8x8 and had batter left over; the original recipe

 called for 2 8" round cake pans. You could honestly use
any size pan, just make sure you have a cake
stand/platter big enough to turn it out on. Also, I wouldn't suggest 

using a spring-form pan, as the caramel could leak through. 

Anyway, after you spray the pan, go ahead and lay the banana pieces down, filling in

 the whole dish. Try not to overlap them -- I made this mistake and when I turned

 it out, some of the bananas fell off 

(conveniently, they fell off the side that we ate before taking the picture haha)

See the overlap on the bottom? No good. Don't go there. I know you

want to cover every last bit, but it's better to have some cake

without banana on it, than to have it fall all over :(

Next, you need to make the caramel. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

In a saucepan, melt the butter. When it's all melted, add the brown

sugar and lemon juice (I just squeezed a little bit from half 

a lemon I had lying around). Stir it all up and let it simmer until the sugar is dissolved.

Make sure the heat is not up too high, or else you could burn

your caramel, making for a lackluster cake. :)

(I know it's sideways, but you get the idea. Gimme a break; I'm new at this!)

Then, simple as pie. Pour the caramel over the bananas.

(Do you hear the people sing? No? Oh... well, it's the hallelujah chorus.)

Then, sprinkle shredded coconut all over (if you're into that sort of thing.) 

I was so busy picking up all the pieces of coconut that missed the cake

and putting them in my mouth, that I forgot to take a picture.

Next, pour the cake batter over the banana-caramel-coconut. Make sure it's all even.

You don't want a lopsided cake when you turn it out of the pan,

do you?

Look at all those layers of goodness!

Pop that beauty in the oven for about 35-40 minutes. 

In the meantime... I had left over batter,

so I poured it into muffin tins and sprinkled just a little shredded coconut on top.

I got rid of the left-over caramel before I decided to do cupcakes :(

Anyway, those bake for about 15 minutes or so and taste really good,

because the coconut on tip gets all toasty and yummy.

(Blurry I know... shaky hands + iPhone....)

Once the cake comes out of the oven, let it sit for a while. 

Like, really a while. I let mine go for probably an hour or so.

When you're ready, take a deep breath and get ready to flip it. 

I had to mentally prepare myself for the flip.

And voila! A beautiful, delicious cake is born!

It's delicious by itself but would be super good with some whipped cream on top.

Infused with rum. Yes. Yes, rum whipped cream next time.

Now, let me be honest with you. 

This cake is AMAZING. The sour cream in 

the cake makes it so light and fluffy. I might add it to all of my boxed

cake mixes from now on. 

You all need to try this. This is a perfect recipe for

summer, a bridal shower, a baby shower,

Easter, or just because you want

to celebrate your husband.

If you try the recipe, let me know!