Banana Coconut Upside Down Cake

Hi Everyone!  I'm still here and still alive, just overwhelmingly busy the last month.  As most of you know, my mom was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in December and she is 5 treatments in to a 6 treatment chemo regimen.  I'm happy to report that her cancer is responding really well to the chemo.  The lymph nodes that were the size of a softball are now the size of a marble, so her prognosis is really good.  On the flip side, CHEMO SUCKS!  I've spent as much time as I can helping her through the weakness and fatigue.  We are very grateful that we only have a few more weeks of it, then we can get back to living.  Thanks to all of you for your kind emails and prayers.

I have a really fabulous recipe for you today.  Its so good that I'm working on a variation or two to use in a cook off.  For today I'm posting the original recipe, but I'll share the variations later once I've got it just right.  But I'll give you a hint, think Pina Colada Cake.

Banana Coconut Upside Down Cake
2-10" dutch ovens

1 yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
6 bananas, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbs. lemon juice

To prepare the pots, oil the bottoms and fit each pot with a piece of parchment paper that is cut to fit inside, then oil the parchment.

Combine the cake mix, eggs, oil, water, and sour cream and mix vigorously for 2 minutes.  Place the banana slices evenly on the bottom of each pan.

In a small dutch oven, melt the butter over 6-8 coals.  (I had to use my 12" because it was the smallest one I had left.)  Add the brown sugar and lemon juice and heat until the sugar dissolves.  Pour half of the brown sugar mixture over the bananas in each pot .  Sprinkle the coconut over the brown sugar sauce.

Pour the cake batter over the top of the coconut in each pan, dividing equally.

Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes our clean.  Use 1 ring on top and 1 ring on the bottom.  Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.  Invert onto serving dishes.  Serve warm.  Makes 2-10" cakes.

The Finished Product

The Review

Wow!  Is all I can say.  This is a really simple recipe that gives absolutely stellar results!  The bananas are my favorite part, hands down.  Next time I'm going to slice them even thicker because I kept wanting more bananas.  The brown sugar sauce and the coconut....I'm drooling all over my keyboard right now!  I think a pineapple cake mix would be really good too!  This gets an A-, only because I have some really good ideas to make it even better!

Source:  The Girl Who Ate Everything