U is for Upside-Down Cake (Jessica)

Dear Reader,

Guess what, there aren't a lot of foods that start with the letter U! Oh, you already knew that did you?

OK, but that's not really what this post is about. Instead, I want to talk about Labor Day weekend. Supposedly, this (much needed) holiday weekend signifies the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Living in California, it is HOT. Like, wicked hot. (where am I from again??). 99, 103, 105, 89...you know you're in trouble when 89 sounds cool.
This year on Labor Day, I started thinking about Labor Day weekends in my past. For some reason, big things have happened around this holiday in the past few years. Maybe not things that seem big to an observer, but for me they were catalyst-type of things. Something old ending, something new starting...you get the idea. What things will change this year?
A year ago, I never would have imagined I'd have blogged about a recipe every week for 6 months! It's been really great! What will happen next?...we've got some ideas in the works, but announcements about our blog will have to wait a bit. :) In the meantime....

Upside-Down Cake (with Bananas and Pecans)
from allrecipes.com

Ingredients: 
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/2 cup pecan halves
2 medium firm bananas. sliced
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold butter or margarine
1 cup plain yogurt
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: 
1. Grease a 9 inch springform pan. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and butter and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook, without stirring, until sugar is dissolved, just a couple of minutes.  

3. Pour liquid into springform pan. Arrange pecans evenly on top with flat side up. 

4. Pour remaining lemon juice over sliced bananas and either drain or blot excess liquid. 
5. Arrange bananas in a circular pattern over the pecans; set aside. 

6. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 
7. Combine yogurt, eggs, lemon peel, and vanilla. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Spoon over bananas. 

8. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge of pan; invert cake and loosen sides of pan. Remove pan and serve! 

Review: 
I really liked this cake, the yogurt kept it moist. I think next time if I tried it again, I would smash up the bananas more and mix them into the cake directly. As it was, the banana flavor was too concentrated in one place and it would have been better if mixed. I also discovered I don't really love pecans in cakes. Good to know! I did think the recipe was a good one though, and very pretty.. So if you like pecans and bananas, this is a good choice!

PS. Didn't I do a better job inverting the cake this week than when I made that Raspberry Cake?! Whew!

Until next time!

-Jessica