Banoffee pie is an English dessert pie made from bananas and toffee (caramel) on a biscuit base, finished with whipped cream. Despite the name, it is not baked in an oven: it sets in the refrigerator. Keep it cold, but do not freeze it, so the base stays intact.
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Recipe
Banoffee Pie
Ingredients
Method
- Crush the biscuits to crumbs with a meat hammer, a cake roll or a mini chopper.
- Melt the 100 g butter in a pan and add the crushed biscuits afterwards. Stir the mixture
- Place the mass in a 20 cm spring shape, push it up the sides and down to the bottom with a spoon so that it is evenly distributed. Smooth it nicely.
- Let the cake bottom cool off in the mold – possibly in the fridge – while making the caramel.
- Bring the remaining 75 g of butter and the brown sugar into a saucepan and warm with mild heat and stir until all the sugar is melted and dissolved.
- Add condensed milk and bring to boil while stir and boil for a few minutes until you have a thick golden caramel.
- Distribute the caramel into the digestive biscuit bundle and put it in the refrigerator for a minimum of half hour.
- Carefully remove the cake from the mold and place it on the serving tray.
- Cut the bananas into slices.
- Whip the cream and turn half of the banana slices in and spread it on top of the now stiffened caramel.
- Spread the remaining banana slices on top of the whipped cream and sprinkle with cocoa.
Step by step, in pictures
The six main moves, from crumbs to cocoa. Quantities and timings are in the recipe card above.
Crush the biscuits- Stir into melted butter
- Press into the tin
- Cook the caramel
- Pour over the base
- Cream, bananas, cocoa
What is banoffee pie made of?
Four layers: a base of crushed digestive biscuits and melted butter, a thick caramel cooked from butter, brown sugar and condensed milk, sliced bananas folded into whipped cream, and a top of banana slices and a dusting of cocoa. The name joins the words banana and toffee.
Credit for the dish is claimed by Ian Dowding and Nigel Mackenzie of The Hungry Monk restaurant in Jevington, East Sussex, who date it to the early 1970s. The recipe appeared in the restaurant’s own cookbook in 1974.
Why the caramel is cooked in a pan
The first banoffee pies were made by boiling an unopened can of condensed milk for several hours. A sealed can heated that way can burst, so this recipe does not use the method. The caramel is made in an open saucepan instead: melt the butter and brown sugar together, add the condensed milk and let it boil for a few minutes while you stir, until it turns thick and golden.
How long does banoffee pie take?
The recipe gives 1½ hours of preparation plus about 10 minutes of cooking for the caramel. Much of that is waiting: the biscuit base cools while you make the caramel, and the caramel needs at least half an hour in the fridge before the cream goes on.
Banoffee pie vs banana cream pie
The difference is the filling. Banoffee pie is built on a layer of caramel made from condensed milk, over a biscuit or pastry base, with bananas and whipped cream on top. Banana cream pie, an American dessert, uses an egg custard filling with bananas and whipped cream.
Tips for a pie that holds its shape
- Lock the springform tin securely before you press in the base. The tighter it is closed, the cleaner the edge of the pie.
- Wait until the caramel is firm from the fridge before the cream and bananas go on top.
- Release the tin carefully and slide the pie onto the serving plate before adding the topping.
- Cut it with a sharp knife.
- Keep the pie in the fridge until you serve it.
Can you make it without bananas?
Yes, if bananas are not for you, swap in another fruit such as apple or mandarin orange. The caramel, base and cream stay the same, though strictly it is no longer banoffee.
Watch it being made
More banana and caramel bakes
Got ripe bananas left over? Try banana bread or banana cake. For more caramel, there are salted caramel brownies.
