As per usual I had some old bananas and really didn’t want to make banana bread again and as luck would have it I caught a YT video (that’s YouTube, FYI) where some guy made sticky toffee pudding with bananas. Sticky toffee pudding is really A#1 fabulicous.
Soaked with and then napped with salted caramel sauce and soft, lightly sweetened whip cream. OMG.
Normally I imagine that no one in their right mind would make many of the things I concoct but this one is really worth it. It’s not hard and it’s sooooooo good.
Recipe below.
Banana Sticky Toffee Pudding
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided, 1/4 cup of the butter is for the sauce, plus more for greasing
- 3/4 cup boiling water
- 6 ounces pitted dates, chopped (1 cup)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 3/4 cups brown sugar, light or dark—I used dark
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 medium-size overripe bananas, mashed (1 cup about—I used frozen, defrosted bananas which are very mushy and work better as far as I’m concerned)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream whipped with vanilla and a TB or 2 of powdered sugar
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9-inch square metal cake pan with butter. In a small heatproof bowl, pour the boiling water over the dates; stir in the baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a large bowl beat 1/4 cup of the butter with 3/4 cup of the brown sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. At low speed, beat in the flour mixture until just combined. Add the vanilla, date mixture and bananas, and beat at low speed until just combined.
3. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the heavy cream, the remaining 1/4 cup of butter, and the remaining 1 cup of brown sugar. Bring to a gentle boil over moderate heat, and cook until slightly thickened and deep golden, about 3 minutes. Keep warm. (I added 1 tsp of vanilla and a TB of scotch)
5. Transfer the pan to a wire rack. While it is still hot use a skewer or toothpick to poke holes all over the cake. Pour half of the warm sauce over the cake, and let stand until absorbed, about 10 minutes. Serve warm with the remaining sauce and the whipped cream.