cooking @ home

Sometimes you just want to have it all. And sometimes you can — especially when you’re cooking. And in this case, baking. How this recipe came along was simple: I had a couple of bananas, I wanted to use them to make some kind of sweet desert, preferrably something baked and I wanted it to include chocolate.

While it’s true with this basis there’s a hundred things I could choose to do, the first thing that popped to mind was maybe a banana cream pie. Graham cracker crust, chocolate pudding (some folks do vanilla), sliced bananas and whipped cream. Yummy but way too easy. No challenge in it.

Then I thought about the Boston Cream Pie, which is actually a cake, but done in a pie pan. (No I have no idea why.). I checked out some recipes. Spongy vanilla cake, custard filling, chocolate, but nope, no bananas. I then said to myself: what the heck, there’s bananas in it now.

Looking around for inspiration and to see how others did it, I found a ton of recipes that called for plain old chocolate icing, the kind you get out of a can. Even made fresh, those recipes with photographs showed one sloppy affair. Where was the kind of topping I recall when I’ve had this in a diner or a restaurant long ago? And then I found one at last. The topping was a ganache. Yes, that looked correct.

Later when I traced the original recipe as having come from the Parker House Hotel in Boston about 150 years ago, it too said the icing should be a ganache. Why all of those slopping and boring “plain icing” recipes around? No idea. But hey, if I was going to mess with a classic, it was going to be the classic version I was going to mess with.

Btw, I had to do this recipe twice. That is, the cake twice. You see, I’ve baked before, but I am not a baker. Cook, yeah. And I think one darned good one. Baker though? I’ve said it before, cooking is an art, baking is a science. While it seems the second is easier, it isn’t, it’s quite unforgiving at times if you make a mistake.

To make a long story short, for those of you (who are like me) not experienced bakers: Do not let anything “foreign” get into your egg whites or they will not turn as they should. I had some batter on my beaters and couldn’t get a soft peak after 20 minutes. I knew I did something wrong, but instead I put it in the mix and baked it. Disaster. I should have know to toss it, and start over with two new egg whites. So that’s today’s tip for you.

In the end this turned out very well. Two bananas. One went into the pastry filling. The other one got split, half in with the cake mix, the other half sliced thinly and added in between layers. You see this desert is basically three elements, none of which I’d ever “played” with before … basically it’s a sponge cake, a custard and the ganache. I’ve made cakes from scratch before but not a sponge. Puddings before but never a custard. And first time for the ganache.

Toughest part of the recipe? Cutting the thin cake layer in half. And other than to tell you to use a long serrated bread cutting knife, I have no tips to tell you how to not go awry and to make a perfect half. Just do your best and it will work out. Remember if I can do it, you can too.

Quick note: As Thanksgiving is nearing, yes, this would make a nice and different desert for your guests to enjoy!

  

Banana Boston Cream Pie
©2007 Harry Kenney

cake:

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted, along with 1/4 tsp cornstarch
(or 1 cup plus 2 tbsps cake flour, sifted)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 banana, mashed
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 egg yolks
1 tsps vanilla
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

filling

2 cups whole milk
1 tbsp vanilla
6 egg yolks
2/3 granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 banana, mashed
plus 1 banana, sliced thin

ganache:

8 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream, boiling

Pastry filling needs to be made first as it needs to set, then cake, then ganache icing.

Filling: In a medium saucepan heat milk and vanilla, bring to boil over medium heat. In a bowl, whisk egg yolks and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add cornstarch and whisk vigorously until there are no longer any lumps. Whisk in a small amount (1/5) of hot milk into mix to temper the eggs. Once well mixed, take bowl mixture and pour all of it back into the saucepan with the hot milk mixture. Mix and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly until it is thickened and slowly boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool slightly, then place in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at 2-3 hours or until ready to serve. (The custard filling can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Must be refrigerated a minimum of 1 hour before using.)

Cake: About an hour after making the filling, start to make the cake. Doing it this way assures both will be ready at about the same time for assembly. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add milk, oil, egg yolks, mashed banana and vanilla extract. Beat with electric mixer on low to medium speed until combined. Beat an additional three minutes on high speed and set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a small to medium mixing bowl, beat eggs whites and cream of tartar together. If you are using the same mixer, you must clean the beaters before doing this, else the whites will not set. Set mixer on medium to high speed until achieving soft peaks. Pour egg white mixtures into egg yolks mixture, folding it in. Pour the batter into a greased 9-inch pie pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden and testing with a toothpick shows it is cooked inside. Place on a wire rack and cook.

When cake is cooled. Slice across to make two layers. Let cool further.

Ganache: In a medium bowl, pour the boiling cream over the chopped chocolate and stir until melted.

Assembly: Place bottom layer on plate. Atop put all of the custard filling. Atop filling place thinly sliced bananas. Place top layer on. Pour warm ganache completely over top, let some spill down the sides. Store in refrigerator at least one hour prior to cutting.