My son's 20th (!!) birthday was yesterday. To celebrate his leaving behind his teenage years and entering into the formality of being a 20-something, I decided to make a non-traditional birthday cake. So I made him a pineapple-coconut upside down cake. The recipe makes two cakes (1 layer each) and were so good. The recipe also calls for yellow cake mix and sour cream, but instead I used carrot cake mix and vanilla yogurt. It was SO delicious! I'm not a coconut person but this topping is addictively good.
1 BettyCrocker yellow cake mix (I used carrot cake mix)
3 whole eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup vanilla lowfat yogurt
4 bananas sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, divided
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Directions
* Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 2 (8 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
* With an electric mixer, beat cake mix, eggs, oil, and yogurt on low until combined. Beat on high for 2 minutes.
* Place banana slices evenly on the bottom of the two cake pans.
* In a small saucepan melt butter. Add brown sugar and lemon juice and heat until dissolved. Pour half of the brown sugar mixture into each of the 2 round cake pans over the bananas. Sprinkle coconut over brown sugar sauce.
* Pour cake batter on top of the coconut into the two pans, dividing equally. The batter is thick. If you have difficulty spreading it, try turning the pan as you hold your spatula still.
* Bake 35 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Invert onto serving dishes. Slice to serve.
If you use sour cream (1/2 cup) instead of yogurt you will have to reduce the oil to 1/4 cup and add 1/2 cup of water.
