Bananas Foster Trifle

Hiya!

My bananas foster trifle incorporates layers of banana cake sandwiched with apricot jam, fresh bananas, rum pastry cream, whipped cream, and a rum caramel sauce.

Is this recipe a tad complex? Sure. Is it technically hard? Nope. Don’t be afraid of making your own custard. Once you start, you will want to make it all the time. You will branch out to chocolate pudding, and start filling tart shells with crème diplomat, and oooo, we can have a very good time together. Same goes for the caramel.

And, of course, each element that goes into the trifle can be enjoyed on its own, in a variety of other ways.

As the video explains in further detail, this recipe is the result of a kitchen mistake: Namely, a banana pound cake that turned out more like a banana 1,000-pound cake. It was leaden. As my English husband’s favorite taste of home is trifle (and Heinz—only Heinz—tinned beans on toast, but more on that another time), when life gives you mediocre cake, make lemonade. Or trifle. Oh, you get the idea.

After the many recipes, you will find some shortcuts if all of this seems a bit too much.

Bananas Foster Trifle

Banana Cake

This recipe is NOT the leaden one I made. It’s a light, delicate cake that if baked in 2 9-inch pans would make a lovely layer cake.

What You’ll Need:

13 x 9” baking pan

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 overly ripe bananas, mashed

2/3 cup sour cream

4 ounces butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

What You’ll Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

3. Mix the sour cream together with the bananas.

4. With a stand or hand mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Yes, I know this feels like a long time, but it ensures a delicate crumb.

5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each until just incorporated, and scraping down the sides and beaters between each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

6. Add one-third of the flour mixture and beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides. Add half the sour cream-banana mixture. Yes: Scrape down the sides. Repeat, alternating dry and wet, finishing with the dry. Scrape down the bowl. Raise the speed to medium-high and beat the mixture for 5 seconds.

7. Pour into the prepared pan, smoothing the mixture to the edges. Give the pan a rap on the table to make sure any bubbles disappear. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden, and the middle springs back when touched.

8. Let cool. You can make this a few days in advance. Just wrap it well to keep in moisture. You can also freeze it for a rainy day when you need trifle or a hunk of cake.

Crème Pâtissère aka Pastry Cream with Bananas

This recipe is taken from the 1997 version of The Joy of Cooking. I have doubled it and amended the directions a little because I can’t help myself.

What You’ll Need:

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

8 egg yolks

2 2/3 cup milk (I used 2 %)

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

2 tablespoons rum (optional)

3 ripe bananas, diced

What You’ll Do:

1. In a medium bowl, beat the sugar, flour, cornstarch and egg yolks on high speed for 2 minutes or until thick and pale yellow (a beautiful yellow, I might add. I was tempted to take it into my local paint store to have it matched). Set aside.

2. In a medium stainless-steel or enamel saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer (small bubbles at the edge of the pan).

3. Tablespoon by tablespoon whisk one-third of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture. This is called tempering and is the only vaguely nerve-wracking part, but if you go slowly you will not curdle the eggs. Scrape the egg mixture into the pan of milk and whisk constantly over medium-low heat. The custard will thicken and began to bubble. Continue to cook for another 45 to 60 seconds. (This helps to fully cook the flour and corn starch. It ensures the custard thickens and there is no raw flour taste).

4. Scrape the custard into a clean bowl. Let cool for ten minutes, then stir in the chopped bananas.

5. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming. The custard will keep in the refrigerator for 2 days.

Caramel Rum Sauce

This is truly gilding the lily and makes more than you need. This should not a problem as it keeps well in the refrigerator for about 10 days and if you don’t eat it by the spoonful when the news gets too overwhelming, you can also pour it over ice cream or stir it into your coffee.

What You’ll Need:

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon real vanilla extract or 2 tablespoons rum

optional: 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

What You’ll Do:

1. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together the condensed milk and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer (slow, bloopy bubbles will pop up), stirring constantly. Lower the heat and continue stirring for five minutes until the mixture is smooth and slightly thickened. Remove from the heat, add the butter and flavorings and stir.

2. Decant into a clean jar or bowl.

3. You can refrigerate for up to 10 days. Reheat gently in the microwave.

FINALLY: ASSEMBLE THE TRIFLE

What You’ll Need:

A deep bowl

Banana cake

Apricot jam

Rum (Don’t want liquor? Try flat ginger ale, apple cider or orange juice)

2-3 fresh bananas, thinly sliced

Creme pâtissière

Lightly sweetened whipped cream

Optional: Rum caramel sauce

What You’ll Do:

1. Slice the banana cake into 1/2-inch slices. Sandwich two slices together with apricot jam. Repeat until you have many long banana cake sandwiches. Slice each one into 2 to 3-inch pieces.

2. Place a layer of the cake sandwiches at the bottom of the trifle bowl. Generously drizzle with rum. (What I really mean is soak the banana cake with rum, but I’m trying to sound dainty.). Place a decorative ring of bananas against the side of the trifle bowl, and pour three-quarters of the pastry cream on top.

3. Add another layer of cake, more glugs of rum and a decorative ring of sliced bananas. Add the rest of the custard, smoothing the top. Spread or pipe a layer of whipped cream on top. Drizzle with the rum caramel (you may have to reheat slightly to liquify it). Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.

How to Simplify:

All that fussing overwhelm you? Here are some shortcuts:

1. Buy store-bought cake.

2. Make vanilla or banana pudding from a box and mix in chopped bananas and a few tablespoons of rum and/or real vanilla extract.

3. Buy good quality caramel sauce (such as Stonewall Kitchen).

A Note of Thanks:

Thank you to everyone who shared my Ukrainian honey poppy seed cake recipe.

I spoke with Rachel Vindman yesterday about ways to help Ukrainians, and she recommended two charities that are doing tremendous work providing humanitarian aid and services to Ukrainian refugees:

MOAS: 

https://www.moas.eu/

HIAS:

https://www.hias.org

Also: welcome to all my new subscribers! I hope you enjoy it here. Please let me know what kind of recipes interest you in the comments. Like the piano player at the Hilton hotel bar, I take requests.

Bosco thanks you all as well and suggests you drop more food on the floor.