FOOD: I APOLOGISEIF I'M being a bit sweet toothed at the moment as it's not like me, but since the days turned dark, all I want to do at the moment is drink cups of tea and eat sweet stuff. These banana puddings are like little mounds of banana bread soaked with toffee: in other words, a good combo. For those of you who like sticky toffee pudding, this cake is my own wily creation. It tastes much better after a day or two and can be re-heated in the tin or even in the microwave for a few seconds.
It used to be on the menu in itsa4, but has since been replaced with our Ozzie pastry chef’s more traditional recipe, which he keeps “forgetting” to give me. Getting recipes from pastry chefs is a little like asking Iran for a map, pinpointing exactly where their nukes are buried. I have to say though, that his sticky toffees are pretty darned good, served warm from the oven with a big dollop of ice cream in all three of our restaurants. The only concession he made to me, his boss-lady, was keeping my creme fraiche sauce as part of his new recipe, which would make old socks taste good.
About eight years ago we were asked to do a massive catering job for 300 people and for dessert, they wanted sticky toffee pudding. My recipe works really well in a 24-centimetre spring-form cake tin. But I multiplied the recipe by infinity plus one and decided to do it in big rectangular trays, to make the process a lot more efficient.
When it came slicing the cake into two pieces, horizontally, so it could be drenched with the sticky toffee sauce, I nearly died. The cake was so raw and gooey inside that it looked like it was a lost cause. Peaches and I had to work through the night, cutting the cakes into smaller sections and giving them another blast in the oven before cooling them down and soaking each half. What should have taken us three hours ended up taking us about nine, and the big risk was that they still wouldn’t be good enough to serve. Thankfully, the sticky toffee sauce saved the day and the cake went down a treat. (Like I said, the sauce would make old socks taste good). Each recipe serves six.
Banana puddings
150g soft butter
150g Demerera sugar
3 medium eggs, beaten
3 large over-ripe bananas, mashed
150g plain white flour
1 tsp baking powder
Sauce
50g butter
50g Demerera sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
125ml cream
Heat an oven to 180 degrees/gas four. First make the toffee sauce. Melt the butter and sugar and when the sugar dissolves, whisk in the golden syrup and cream. Simmer for a minute, whisking now and then. Set aside until you’ve made the puddings. Grease six 200ml dariole moulds and line them with small sheets of greaseproof paper that you’ve crumpled up and dampened slightly, which will make them easier to line the moulds with. If you don’t line them with greaseproof, they may stick a bit, but you can ease them out with a sharp knife.
For the cake, beat the butter and sugar with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and banana and beat until well mixed. Don’t worry if it curdles. Add a spoonful of flour and continue to beat, and then fold in the rest of the flour and the baking powder, which you should sieve into the bowl. Starting with a spoon of sauce, layer alternate spoonfuls of pudding mix and sauce. Put the moulds on a baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm with cream and any leftover sauce and chopped nuts.
Sticky toffee cake with evil toffee sauce
375ml water
250g stoned dates
3 pears, finely diced
150g butter
375g soft brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
450g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Heat the water, dates and pears in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer, until almost all the water has evaporated and the mixture is soft. This takes about 25 minutes. It should resemble a puree, but if it’s still a bit chunky, you can process it until smooth in a food processor. Set aside until the cake bit is made.
Preheat an oven to 180 degrees/gas four. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, using an electric beater. Reduce the speed and add the eggs and a spoonful of the flour to stop it curdling. Add the date and pear puree, mix well and then fold in the flour and baking powder. Pour into the greased 24-centimetre non-stick springform cake tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes. The cake should be fairly firm in the centre and a knife should come out clean when inserted in the centre. If not, cover with foil and cook for another 10 minutes. Set aside to cool while you make the toffee sauce.
Evil toffee sauce
500ml cream
200g caster sugar
100g soft brown sugar
150g butter
400ml creme fraiche
Heat everything, except the creme fraiche, in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool for about half an hour. Whisk in the creme fraiche. Unclip the side of the cake tin and, using a large knife, carefully slice the cake horizontally in two. This is a bit awkward, but if it falls apart, who cares! It’ll all get drenched in toffee sauce, so no-one will know. Put the bottom half back in the cake tin and place the tin onto a plate or baking tray. Pour half the toffee sauce on to the bottom half of the cake. Put the top half back on and pour over the remaining toffee sauce. Cover with cling film and store overnight in the fridge, unless you are serving it that day. Heat up the cake, uncovered, for about 15 minutes at 150 degrees/gas four before serving or give individual slices a blast in the microwave. dkemp@irishtimes.com
See also itsa.ie
