Food & Wine
Tropical banana cake with salted peanut caramel sauce
If you’re really looking to go all out, this tropical banana cake with salted peanut caramel sauce is a striking dessert that tastes as good as it looks. If there are any leftovers of, they will keep for a few days in the fridge.
Serves: Six to eight
Ingredients:
Banana cake
- 125g butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons rum
- 2 eggs
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped tropical dried fruits, plus extra for garnish
- 2 cups self-raising flour
Salted peanut caramel sauce
- 200g caster sugar
- 60ml (4 tablespoons) water
- 60g butter, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 80g salted roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
Filling
- 300ml cream
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar
- 250g sour cream, whisked
- 2 bananas, sliced, tossed in a little lemon or lime juice to prevent browning
Method:
- Heat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a 22cm spring-form tin.
- Cream butter and brown sugar together. Add vanilla and rum, beating to combine. Beat in eggs, mashed bananas and coconut milk. Add desiccated coconut and dried fruits, sift the flour over and gently fold to combine.
- Spoon into prepared tin and bake 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool. The cake can be made the day before it is needed.
- For the sauce, place caster sugar and water in a small saucepan and swirl the pan over a medium-high heat until sugar dissolves.
- Bring to the boil and cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until a rich caramel colour. Add butter carefully (mixture may spit) and whisk to combine.
- Add cream and soy sauce, whisking to combine.
- Add half the chopped peanuts. Serve immediately or leave covered on the bench (the sauce will become solid if refrigerated).
- For the filling, whip cream with icing sugar then mix into whisked sour cream.
- Keep chilled until needed.
- To assemble, split the cold cake and cover the bottom piece with a layer of sliced banana. Top with half the cream mixture then add the other layer of cake.
- Cover the top with remaining cream and garnish with remaining peanuts and extra dried tropical fruits. Pour over the caramel sauce and serve.
Written by Bernadette Hogg. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
Images: Shutterstock