Caramelized Banana Upside Down Cake

Maybe it's because I'm seven months pregnant but this cake blew my mind this week. I had a load of overripe bananas and couldn't handle another banana bread. I saw this on Food52 recently and gave it a try. WOW. Not only is it the best cake I've had in a long time, but it took like 15 to make. It's like one big banana sticky bun. Amazing.

Caramel & Bananas
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 bananas, sliced lengthwise either in half or in thirds

Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking pwder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a 10 inch cast iron pan, melt the butter of medium high heat. Add the brown sugar and stir occasionally until it dissolves and is bubbly. Remove from heat and add the banana slices, flat side down, in one layer over the caramel so that all of the caramel is covered.

3. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Add the eggs and whisk. Slowly add the buttermilk until combined. Fold in the dry ingredients with a spatula until just combined - don't over mix.

4. Pour the cake batter over the bananas and put in the oven for 35-40 mins.

5. When done, remove from oven and run a knife around the edge of the cake. Let it sit for 5 mins and then carefully invert the cake onto a platter.