banaana Archives - Sugar et al

There are a very few people on this planet who woudn’t have tasted a Tiramisu. But I’m not sure how many people would have tasted it this way. Well, a banana tiramisu cake is the best of both worlds. A moist, delicious banana cake topped with coffee soaked sponge fingers, slathered with a creamy mascarpone frosting and generous dusting of cocoa powder. And believe me, it works like magic!

I find it a genius idea to make an entire layer out of just sponge finger biscuits without the hassle of having to bake. To be honest, I think this technique can be replicated with any cake as the base. I would love to try a chocolate one. If you avoid eggs in your baked goods, an egg free cake would be a perfect base.

If you love cakes with bananas, you will love my Easy Banana Cake with Tahini Frosting or my Banoffee Pie with Nutella Mousse

Banana Tiramisu Cake
Makes an 8 inch round cake

Banana Cake
125 g butter, melted
3/4 cup (150 g)castor/granulated sugar
3/4 cup (165 g) brown sugar
2 large ripe bananas (about 1 and 1/4), mashed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk
1 and 1/2 cups (183 g) self-raising flour
1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate

Coffee Layer
2 tsp instant coffee powder
3/4 cup (180 ml )water
1/4 cup (55 g) brown sugar
8-10 sponge finger biscuits

Mascarpone layer
250 g tub mascarpone
1/2 cup (120 ml) thickened cream/ heavy cream
2 tbsp (30 g) castor/granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cocoa powder, to dust

To make the banana cake : Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease the base and sides of an 8-inch (20-cm) round pan with 3-inch (8-cm) height and line the base with baking paper.

Place the butter, sugars, banana, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk until well blended and smooth. Add the buttermilk and whisk again. Fold in the self raising flour and bicarbonate soda until just combined. Do not over mix.

Transfer the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven. Run a blunt knife around the edges to loosen but leave aside in the pan for 10 minutes to cool slightly. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Using a skewer, poke holes into the cake.

To make the tiramisu layer– Combine the coffee, water and sugar in a medium saucepan and warm over low heat. Bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

Use an electric mixer to whisk the mascarpone and cream in a bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla and whisk until soft peaks form.

Dip sponge finger biscuits, 1 at a time, in coffee mixture. Arrange over the cooled banana cake trimming to fit if necessary. Spread the mascarpone mixture over the sponge fingers. Dust with cocoa powder.

If there was one thing on my cooking bucket list that I most definitely wanted to tick off in 2016, it was to try out oats in a smoothie. I’ve been fascinated all the while with the idea of a on-the-go drinkable breakfast and what better than chilled, nutritious and filling glasses of oat smoothie on hot summer days. So now my packet of rolled oats is sitting in a jar, ground and ready to be added to my latest obsession, every morning. To tell you the truth, I am hooked!

There are various ways of including oats in your drink. You could use the overnight soaked oats or add the oats along with other ingredients directly into the blender. The process I like to use is to grind the oats first either in a coffee grinder or a food processor to a coarse powder. Then I can use it whenever I want to. That saves time and gives the smoothie a creamier yet thick consistency with some texture. After I shot this first combo, I made 2 other combinations with stone fruits, coconut milk, herbs, chia seeds and lots of other things. It’s fun to watch all the great ingredients disappear into the liquid with a few whirls of the blender.

Banana, Peanut Butter and Oat Smoothie
Makes 2 large glasses

1 banana, (peeled then chopped and frozen)
1 cup almond milk (or coconut milk or regular milk)
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup rolled oats, powdered
2 tbsp sugar (or any other sweeter of your choice)

Dip a spoon in peanut butter and run the back of the spoon inside serving glasses to create a random swirl.
Combine all the ingredients in your blender until smooth. Serve immediately.