Another contest in the books. Oh, they grow up so fast! It seems like just yesterday that we started Your Best Recipe with Bananas or Plantains and today, we unveil the winner, the reigning champ, the best of the bunch. Give a big round of applause to:
Jessie Sheehan—for her Caramelized Banana Upside-Down Cake! A million balloons fall from the ceiling. A marching band parades into the room. And—what’s this?—a curtain slowly lifts, unveiling a shiny, state-of-the-art, brand-new car! Filled with bananas!
This recipe is worth all that and more. It couldn’t be easier or more rewarding. We love serving it warm—which is to say, it smells like heaven and we have no patience and just can’t wait—with vanilla ice cream. Think gooey bananas Foster, only instead of on a plate, it’s on the fluffiest, tenderest yellow cake.
While we’ve only tried this recipe with bananas—and tried it many times, at that—as the weather veers toward berries and stone fruits, we have a feeling this cake would be up for all the riffs. We’ll have to ask Jessie in her upcoming Q&A. Stay tuned for that soon!
On May 15, we’ll reveal the theme for our next contest. This time, the competition is really going to heat up. Like heat up, get it? Cough, cough. It’s a clue!
Share your congrats for Jessie in the comments!
Emma was the food editor at Food52. She created the award-winning column, Big Little Recipes, and turned it into a cookbook in 2021. These days, she's a senior editor at Bon Appétit, leading digital cooking coverage. Say hello on Instagram at @emmalaperruque.
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