Peanut butter upside down cake

 

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible! 

Traditional upside down cake is made by creating a butter and brown sugar sauce in a cast iron skillet, laying pineapple rings and cherries in the sauce, and then pouring cake batter on top. When the cake cooks, the sauce caramelizes at the bottom. After it finishes cooking, the cake is flipped upside down so the caramelized fruit is on top and the sauce soaks into the rest of the cake. 

This peanut butter upside down cake is the same concept EXCEPT I used bananas instead of pineapple, and the base is a super moist peanut butter cake.

Anyone can make this recipe because it doesn’t require any special equipment—just 2 bowls for mixing and a cast iron skillet. 

It's important to use traditional creamy peanut butter as opposed to natural peanut butter. Natural peanut butter is more heavy and oily and will weigh down the cake. For substitutions, you can us any nut or seed butter as long as it’s creamy and no-stir.

I only use Challenge unsalted butter for this cake. Challenge butter is churned daily from the freshest 100% real pasteurized sweet cream. There are no hormones, additives, or fillers. 

It can be hard to tell if the cake is all the way baked through. I always use a thermometer to check the internal temperature of the cake. It should be between 205 to 210 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don't own a thermometer, I highly recommend getting one! I use my thermometer all the time. 

When it comes time to inverting the cake, I recommend waiting about 15 - 20 minutes for it to cool before flipping it onto a cake stand or serving plate. You don't want to flip it right away because the cake will fall apart, but it's much easier to get it out of the skillet when it's still warm.

Peanut butter upside down cake

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1 1/2 cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (160 grams) brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup (176 grams) creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup (8 Tablespoons) Challenge unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (120 milliliters) whole milk
• 2 (100 grams) large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the topping

• 1/2 cup (8 Tablespoons) Challenge unsalted butter
• 1 cup (213 grams) brown sugar
• 4 bananas split in half down the center

Directions

For the cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Melt peanut butter and butter together in medium bowl. Add milk to bowl and stir until combined. 
4. Whisk eggs in small bowl and mix into wet ingredients with vanilla extract.
5. Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.

For the topping

1. Melt butter in bottom of 10-inch cast iron skillet
2. Stir in brown sugar
3. Arrange banana slices in circular pattern in butter/brown sugar mixture.
4. Pour cake batter into skillet and smooth top.
5. Place in oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until internal cake temperature reaches 205 to 210 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Let cake cool for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a cake stand or serving plate.