Banoffee Tart (updated)
A classic combination of caramel, banana & cream, that is so widely popular, it has become a household favourite! This British classic is by far one of the most decadent, indulgent and addictive desserts ever!
If you’ve had a banoffee pie before, you can relate to all the hype. It’s pretty frickin’g good, let’s be honest. The simplicity of it is what makes it such a delight and rightfully so! I mean, you can’t possibly go wrong with banana & caramel, they are a match made in heaven. Add a generous layer of cream and buttery biscuit to hold it all together and you’re in some serious trouble! I dare you to stop eating after a bite lol
So, what makes a good banoffee pie? In my opinion, because it’s so simple and such few ingredients, you have to get each component pretty spot on to really get the ‘wow’ factor. Plus you gotta have the right ratio of caramel to cream. A 1:2 ratio of caramel to cream is what I prefer. You get just enough caramel for it to be indulgent but enough cream to cut through the heaviness. Yum!
While this recipe is very close to being the classic one, I did do a few tweaks to make it my own.
Firstly, I’m not a big fan of the graham cracker crust. I know I know, that’s weird and how could I NOT like GC crust, but honestly, it’s not that great guys. For a true buttery crust, shortcrust pastry is the way to go! It’s delicate, buttery and adds a lot more flavour than your regular GC crust.
Brulee your banana! This is such a simple little addition but it tastes SO good! That little bit char on the bananas add a great complexity of flavour to the overall dessert, instead of it feeling plain or flat. I use a blowtorch to char mine.
Salt is your friend. I like salt, that’s no secret. Salt in dessert is one of the most powerful tools to bring out flavour and balance your dessert. Sprinkle a little sea salt over your caramel layer to cut through the heaviness of the dessert and make it a lot more exciting.
These little simple tweaks will go a long away in taking your classic banoffee pie from good to great in no time, I promise!
Shortcrust pastry aka Paté sucreé
What’s a shortcrust pastry you ask? If you wanna learn all about the shortcrust pastry and whats and whys behind it, you can check out this post here.
Want to learn how to line a tart shell? I got you covered. Watch this video for a detailed explanation and step by step tutorial.
Not sure what blind baking is? You’ve come to the right place. This tutorial right here tells you exactly what it is and how to blind bake a tart.
Dulce de Leche
Funnily, Dulce de Leche is a Latin American confection (and not British) which literally translates to ‘candy of milk’, meaning cooking down the milk for hours to candy it. Dulce de leche is not about caramelising the sugar but rather the milk solids giving us that sweet toffee flavour instead of the bitterness of caramelised sugar. This browning of milk solids is due to the popular ‘Maillard reaction’ which is a chemical process that takes place between the amino acids and reducing sugars in our food when heat is applied to it. Sounds complicated? It is but good news, you don’t have to worry about it! You can focus all your time and energy on making and eating this one helluva dessert :D
The original Banoffee pie recipe calls for cooking the condensed milk with additional butter and sugar but we all know that’s not the best health decision so instead, we stick to our dulce de leche. There are two ways you can make Dulce de leche.
You make it from scratch with the traditional method of boiling down milk & sugar for hours until it thickens and browns to give you the most delicious DDL.
OR, you could opt for the lazy girl version where you boil an unopened can of condensed milk for 2 hours to give you a thick sweet caramel.
Actually, there’s a third option too. You buy readymade DDL from the supermarket.
This recipe uses the second method. But feel free to go for either of the methods. While nothing beats the flavour of homemade dulce de leche from scratch, either method works.
This was after boiling the can for 1.5 hours. For a darker caramel, boil for 2-2.5 hours.
That’s all for my baking wisdom and rambling for today folks. Let’s get to the recipe and let’s get baking! Hope you enjoy this recipe and do give this a try! If you do give it a try, please tag me @myyummyspatula on IG or feel free to send me a DM with the photo and I would LOVE to see how it turns out for you! Happy baking guys xx
Recipe
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
For the shortcrust pastry:
150g plain flour
50g almond meal (or sub plain flour)
50g icing sugar
a pinch of salt
110g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
2-3 tbsp ice cold water
For the filling:
1 can of condensed milk (395g) / store-bought dulce de leche
1 tsp sea salt
2-3 large bananas, peeled and thinly sliced
castor sugar, to caramelise the bananas
For the whipped ganache:
300g heavy cream/ thickened cream/ double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
60g white chocolate
4g gelatine powder
20ml cold water
Method
For the shortcrust pastry:
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix all the ingredients for the shortcrust pastry except cold water until the mix resembles wet sand. Alternatively, you can also do this by hand.
Once the mixture has started to slightly clump together, stream in the cold water 1 tbsp at a time until the dough just comes together.
Transfer the dough to a clean work surface, using the palm of your hands, lightly knead to bring the dough together but be careful not to overwork. Flatten into a disc and cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate for minimum 2 hours or preferably overnight.
Roll out the dough to 4mm thickness and line 3/4x 12cm fluted tart rings or 1x 24cm fluted tart ring. Rest in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven 170C.
Blind bake the tart shells with baking weights or beans for 15-20 mins or until the edges are golden brown.
Remove the baking weights and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the base of the tart shell is golden brown as well. Let it cool completely.
For the filling:
To make the dulce de leche, place the can of condensed milk sideways into a large pot. Fill the pot with water, making sure that the water level is at least 2-3 inches above the can of condensed milk.
Place the pot over high heat until the water starts to boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 2.5 hours. Check the pot every now and then to ensure that the water level is always 2 inches above the can. Add more boiling water as the water level goes down.
Use a pair of tongs to remove the can from the pot and sit on the countertop or a wire rack to let it cool to room temperature. Do NOT attempt to open the can when it’s hot. There’s still pressure inside the can and the caramel can explode if tried to open the can when hot.
After the caramel has cooled completely, refrigerate until ready to use.
For the whipped ganache:
Bloom the gelatine powder in cold powder. Keep aside for 10 mins.
Place the white chocolate in a small measuring jug.
Put the heavy cream and vanilla extract in a small pot and heat until just about to boil.
Pour over the white chocolate, and emulsify using an immersion blender.
Add the bloomed gelatine and emulsify again.
Pour the ganache mix into a container, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Using a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the ganache on medium speed to medium-stiff peaks.
Transfer to a piping bag, fitted with a St Honore tip and refrigerate until ready to use.
Assembly:
Place the sliced bananas on a heatproof tray. Sprinkle sugar over them and blowtorch to brulee the bananas. This is optional but highly recommended for better flavour.
Spread a generous layer of dulce de leche at the bottom of the tart shell. Sprinkle salt over it.
Use a knife to lift the bananas from the tray and place a layer of charred bananas over the caramel.
Pipe the whipped ganache over it. Dust with cocoa powder and garnish with bruleed bananas. Serve chilled. Bon appetite!
Notes:
If you wanna learn all about the shortcrust pastry and whats and whys behind it, you can check out this post here.
Want to learn how to line a tart shell? I got you covered. Watch this video for a detailed explanation and step by step tutorial.
Not sure what blind baking is? This tutorial right here tells you exactly what it is and how to blind bake a tart.
If you enjoyed that and tried it at home, please tag me at @myyummyspatula on Instagram so that I can see all your bakes! For more BTS stories, updates and fun, you can follow along here:
