Banana Pudding

I advise you to save this recipe as you'll want to pull it out time and time again. It has proven to be extremely popular and it's wonderfully quick to prepare. You simply whisk a little soft butter with a little white sugar and salt until pale then add a few drops of vanilla extract, an egg and a ripe banana. Continue mixing until it's all combined. Now slice up another ripe banana (over-ripe bananas are great for this recipe) and toss it in a tablespoon of lemon juice. Drain the excess juice into the batter and stir it through with a cup of flour and sprinkling of baking powder. Pour it all into a greased and floured cake tin, spread the sliced banana over top, shake on a few good spoonfuls of muscovado sugar then cover the whole thing with a mixture of boiling milk, cream and butter. It only takes 30 minutes in the oven and voila! 

At 25 minutes - you'll see a noticeable skin forming on the top from all the rich butterfat and milk solids. At 15 minutes - it will begin to bubble up around the sides and you should rotate the pan 180 degrees. At 10 minutes - it will be browning nicely and have risen by about 1" (which is why you'll need a 3" tall pan). In the last few minutes, the bubbling will subside as the liquid is absorbed by the batter beneath. The muscovado sugar will have formed a light fudgy caramel on the top and your kitchen will be perfumed with the gorgeously seductive aroma of baked bananas.

I like to use a springform tin for ease of removal and to prevent any possible mess i wrap a piece of foil underneath, folding halfway up the sides and sliding it into the oven on a tray. A small amount of baking powder is essential in this recipe to give the pudding a little lift and aeration as the banana would otherwise cause it to be quite dense. If your bananas are larger you can throw a little more into the batter. As the batter bakes, the bananas will cook down and sink to the bottom so as you cut into it, hot banana will ooze out gloriously from underneath to self-sauce your pudding. Hot from the oven, it is a delight served simply with a dollop of cold vanilla yoghurt.

Banana Pudding

55 g cold unsalted butter, chopped

95 g castor sugar
2 g salt
1 (55 g) egg
6 g vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas
15 g lemon juice
126 g flour
1 tbsp baking powder
85 g muscovado sugar
125 g milk
125 g cream
50 g unsalted butter

Whisk butter, sugar and salt until pale.

Beat in egg and vanilla ad mix until well-incorporated.

Mix in 115 g banana (or 150 g for oozier version) until combined.

Slice remaining banana and toss with lemon juice to coat in a small bowl.

Tip excess lemon juice into the batter.

Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl to incorporate evenly.

Beat flour into the batter gently with a spoon, being careful not to overmix.

Pour batter into a greased and lined 8" cake pan.

Spread sliced banana over the top.

Sprinkle over muscovado sugar in an even layer.

Heat milk, cream and butter in a small pot until boiling then pour directly onto the batter.

Bake at 180ºC for 30-35 minutes or until golden.

Cathy Xiao Chen