Caramelised Banana Tarte Tatin With Sea Salt

Another day in lockdown, another day digging through the archives of my first blog, which I  briefly wrote during my last year at university and first few months living in London.

Like flicking through old photo albums or hearing your voice played back to you, it's been an equally toe-curlingly cringeworthy and fondly nostalgic occupation. Turns of phrase and baking trends that have not aged well stand in for the bad haircuts and questionable clothing choices - I like to think I won't read this post back in seven years time with such disdain, but who knows. And before I move on - remember mug cakes?! Wow but also, ew.

Anyway, a ruby in the rubble was this forgotten recipe for caramelised banana tarte tatin. I remember baking this for my family and being very pleased with the results. I had been inspired by an early episode of Bake Off - back when all four judges/presenters had the same haircut and the contestants didn't have Instagram - where one of the bakers had created something similar.

At the risk of stating the painfully obvious, I think I had also recently discovered the saturation setting on Lightroom, so please forgive the lurid photos. Strangely, my early food photography and styling (or rather, severe lack of) makes me smile rather than grimace.

I hope you're all doing as ok as can be. If the perpetually empty baking section of my local Sainsbury's is anything to go by, you are all experimenting in the kitchen, which makes me so happy.

THE INGREDIENTS
Pastry
if you don't want to make your own pastry, skip this part and use shop bought puff pastry
225g plain flour
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
190g unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
125g cold water
caramel
100g caster sugar
60g butter
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
3 firm bananas
Flakey sea salt, to finish

To make the rough-puff pastry, place the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter, stirring and chopping it a little using a round-ended knife. Once the butter is well coated in flour, add the lemon juice along with 125ml of cold water. Continue mixing and chopping with the knife, until the mixture has formed a rough, soft dough.

Tip this onto a well floured surface, and shape roughly into a square. Roll into a rectangle which is roughly 35x20 cm, then fold into thirds. Roll the pastry out again into another rectangle, and repeat the process. Repeat this 4-5 times. Wrap up your pastry in clingfilm, and leave to cool down in the fridge for a few hours, or preferably overnight.

To make the caramel, heat the sugar in a pan. Avoiding stirring, let it cook until the sugar has melted and taken on a deep golden colour (10 minutes ish). Add the butter and salt, and shake the pan or if needed, quickly whisk together. Immediately, pour into the base of a round oven-proof dish. Sprinkle with flakey sea salt. Cut the bananas into rounds and layer over the caramel.

Roll out the chilled pastry, and cut a circle just bigger than the banana dish. Place on top and tuck around the bananas, then bake at 180C for 40-45 minutes. The tart is cooked when the pastry is golden and firm to the touch. Flip it onto a plate (carefully, as the hot caramel could spill out when you do this) as soon as you take it out of the oven.

Continue reading

BANOFFEE BLONDIES

When I was at school, the lunch menu was a slow rotation of all the school dinner stalwarts: stodgy crumbles, sponge cakes and fruit pies, all served with a lot of vivid yellow custard. This was all well and good (I love all of these things - even the Birds custard), but very occasionally we'd see two words on the lunch menu - tacked to a burgundy pin board and monitored scrupulously - that would cause pandemonium. Banoffee. Pie.

The pie itself was - on reflection - not worthy of such excitement, but back then a slightly dry biscuit base, tinned caramel, sliced banana, shavings of cooking chocolate and a mountain of whipped cream was enough to send us wild. All these years later, I think back to that teenage euphoria every time I see it on a menu.

I wanted to translate those nostalgic flavours into a bar, and so it was that my banoffee blondies were born. I've added pecans to replicate the crunch of the pie crust, and swapped out the dark chocolate for white - although you could use whichever chocolate you prefer.

 THE INGREDIENTS 

250g unsalted butter

175g white chocolate

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional)

75g dark brown sugar

75g light brown sugar

130g plain flour

1 tsp fine sea salt

75g pecans, toasted

2 small ripe bananas

100g salted caramel sauce

Pinch flakey sea salt

THE RECIPE

Heat the oven to 170°C and line a 20x30cm tin with baking paper. 

Place the butter in a saucepan with 75g of the white chocolate, and place over a low heat to melt. Once the butter has melted, remove from the heat - the residual heat will melt any unmelted white chocolate pieces. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the eggs, vanilla bean paste and sugars for 2-3 minutes until pale, foamy and doubled in volume. Add the melted butter and chocolate and mix to combine, then add the flour and salt and fold together. 

Roughly chop the remaining 100g of the white chocolate and the pecans, then fold through the blondie batter. Pour into the lined tin, and level the surface with a palette knife. 

Slice the bananas lengthways, then gently place on the surface of the blondie batter. Don't press them in - they will naturally sink when baking. Drizzle the salted caramel over the top, and sprinkle with a little flaky salt. 

Bake in the heated oven for 25-35 minutes, until the surface is golden brown and the mixture has lost any wobble when lightly shaken. Allow to cool full before slicing.

Continue reading

Prune, banana and cocoa nib bread {Dairy and refined sugar free}

I'm pushing it a bit saying this twelve days into January - but happy new year to you all! I hope you are all back into the swing of routine and aren't giving yourselves too hard a time with new year's resolutions. I read a compelling article recently which argued that we should make resolutions for change in Spring, rather than in January, as Spring is the natural time of new beginnings and growth. Some food for thought for anyone who's already thrown the towel in, perhaps.

I feel excited and optimistic about 2019, and am doing my best to hold on to that feeling as I get bogged down by the everyday. I have a couple fun projects in the pipeline, and the festive break was a great opportunity to reflect and assess too.

While I'm not normally one for resolution, I have enjoyed eating more healthily after the Christmas deluge. I made the decision in late 2018 to gradually move towards only eating organic animal products, which has meant dramatically reducing the amount of meat and dairy that I eat day to day. I am definitely not vegan (I love cake and cream too much - and more to the point, run a wedding cake business!), but following quite a bit of research into the UK dairy and meat industries, I do want to be sustainable and conscientious in the way I buy and consume these products.

This recipe is part of the range that I developed for Nature's Finest Fruit last year (find the current batch of seasonal recipes here). I'm sharing it here now because it is naturally dairy and refined sugar free, so is a nice bake for anyone who is also changing the way they eat and cook at the moment - whether for January, Veganuary, or as a longer-term shift. Bake this vegan by substituting the eggs for chia or flax seed, or decide to spend a bit more to buy from one of the many amazing organic farms we have here in the UK.

 THE INGREDIENTS

150g Nature’s Finest prunes, drained and dried

175g pitted dates

115g boiling water

115g coconut oil, plus extra for greasing

2 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 large bananas

260g plain flour

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

50g cocoa nibs

THE RECIPE

Place the dates in a saucepan, then pour over the hot water. Leave to soak for 10 minutes, then blend into a purée.

Heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan. Grease a 1kg loaf tin with a little coconut oil, then line with a strip of baking parchment.

Add the coconut oil to the date purée, and place over a low heat, stirring until the coconut oil has melted. Remove from the heat.

Peel the bananas, and mash with a potato masher in a large mixing bowl. Add the date mixture, eggs and vanilla extract and beat to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sea salt, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Add to the wet mixture and beat to combine.

Slice the prunes in half, then add to the batter with the cocoa nibs and stir through. Pour the mixture into your tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes – 1 hour.

The banana bread is cooked when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, or with a couple cooked cake crumbs attached.

Cool the cake fully before slicing and serving. The banana bread will keep well for 4-5 days and can be toasted and served with butter for a further 2 days beyond this.

Continue reading

Banana buckwheat bread {gluten free}

My friend Ronnie makes the best banana bread that I have ever tasted. Ron is modest and maintains that the recipe isn't hers - from memory, it came from a friend of her aunties, and has been tweaked by every interlinking baker whose hands it has passed through. Irregardless of its origin, here we are a decade later and I'm yet to taste anything that even comes close.

Continue reading

BANANA COCONUT LOAF {DAIRY FREE}

It has been a strange few weeks. A surreal blur of keeping the wheels in motion. Finding yourself in London's only late night post office at 9pm on a Thursday night in Belsize Park kind of weird. Another story for another day - although there's not much more to it than that really.

It can seem crazy to stop everything and whip up a cake when things are busy, but I'm constantly reminded of how important it is to make some time for yourself every now and then. There is so much buzz around mindfulness at the moment, and it's worth listening to - everyone needs downtime occasionally.

When my alarm went off at 6.45am on Saturday - on Saturday - I wasn't convinced. But by lunchtime I was sat at my Granny's sewing machine, pattern pieces carefully cut out, the first pieces of a dress coming together. It may have taken a weekend and several stiff drinks for both of us, but I had my first homemade garment packed in my bag for the train journey home. I feel very lucky that my grandparents are still in my life and passing on everything they've learnt to us.

Perhaps it was the sewing - perhaps it was the fact that my grandparents life in a wi-fi blackspot - but this weekend was the first time I felt able to really switch off from life. It was fun, and I hope I'll have the mental energy to put my sewing lessons to use again one day.

For now, I'm sticking to baking. This banana coconut loaf is naturally dairy free, and low in sugar too. It's so easy to make and, if the remainder I polished off yesterday is anything to go by, actually gets better for being kept for a few days.

  THE INGREDIENTS (all at room temperature)

75g coconut oil

100g coconut cream

75g caster sugar

1 tbsp treacle 

1 egg

3 small ripe bananas

100g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt 

1 tbsp Malibu rum (optional, but delicious) 

THE RECIPE

Line a 1 lb loaf tin with parchment, and preheat the oven to 180C. Beat the coconut oil, coconut cream, sugar, treacle and egg to combine. Mash the bananas separately, then mix through.

Sieve in the flour, baking powder and salt, mix, then pour into the lined tin. Bake in your preheated oven for 25-35 minutes, until it is golden and passes the knife test. While the cake is still hot, brush with the malibu. Allow to cool before slicing.  

Continue reading

BANOFFEE FLORENTINES

It's funny how evocative food can be. One bite can instantly transport you are back to a time or place that hasn't crossed your mind in years and yet, unknowingly, is still right there with you.

For me, banoffee pie takes me straight back to boarding school house lunches. I'm lucky enough to still call my group of school friends my best friends, but even so it's strange how wrapped up banana and toffee can be with in-jokes, nuances, dramas and teenage angst.

Florentines, meanwhile, will always make me think of a quintessential little bakery called Baines in my home town of Uppingham. Crisp, yet gooey, sweet and smothered in bitter dark chocolate, their florentines are not easily forgotten. If you ever find yourself in the area - Baines is well worth a visit.

I digress, but it's true that these biscuits are steeped in nostalgia for me. Luckily for you, they're downright delicious, with or without the sentimentalities. I've replaced the traditional dark chocolate with Green & Blacks Salted Milk Chocolate, which brings the perfect balance of richness and edge to the sweetness of the caramel.

You'll also need to find soft pieces of dried banana, as opposed to banana chips. I found mine in the childrens' snacks section of Sainsburys (not an aisle I frequent regularly and, while we're at it, who knew children's food was so pricey!?)

I'd love to hear what baking means to you, and the memories you associate with your favourite recipes. As always, you can reach me via the comments below, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram via the widgets to the right.

 THE INGREDIENTS 

50g caster sugar

50g golden syrup

50g butter
50g flour

50g dried banana pieces

75g flaked almonds

100g Green&Blacks Milk Chocolate with Sea Salt

THE RECIPE
Begin by preheating your oven to 180C, and lining two baking trays with non-stick parchment.

Weigh the butter, sugar and golden syrup directly into a saucepan, then set over a gentle heat, stirring until the butter has meted. Take the pan off the heat, then add the flour and mix quickly to form a paste. Add in the banana pieces and the almonds, and mix through.

Spoon teaspoon sized balls onto your trays, spacing them well apart as the florentines will spread in the oven. You may wish to do this in two batches. Shape into round mounds, then bake for 8-12 minutes. The florentines are done when they have browned ever so slightly, and lacy round the edges.

Allow them to cool on the trays for a few minutes, then carefully lift onto a cooling rack using. Allow them to cool completely.

Melt the chocolate, then spread over the flat site of each florentine. Leave the chocolate to harden for 5-10 minutes, then use a fork to create the characteristic zig-zag pattern.

Continue reading

SALTED ALMOND BANANA ICE CREAM {VEGAN}

Before you click refresh, you really have reached Pudding Lane. Now I know you come here for cakes and caramel - and fear not, they'll be back - but today's recipe comes from the heart (or I suppose, the throat).

I had my tonsils removed on Wednesday. It was my first ever operation, first general aesthetic, first night in hospital. While I am beyond relieved that the tonsillitis that has bugged me non-stop should now be a thing of the past, I certainly was not prepared for how much even minor surgery can take it out of you!

The last few days have been a drowsy blur of napping, pain relief and daytime TV. It's been a novel experience, and certainly a strange one for someone who has never really bought the concept of 'doing nothing.' I'm learning that sometimes it pays to listen to your body and give it what it needs.

I was so looking forward to several guilt free weeks of living on ice-cream alone, but it turns out that my instinct to self-nourish is stronger than first though. All I want to eat is hearty soups, stews, vegetables and fruit. Who knew I had it in me?

Sadly my poor healing throat still does not have it in it, and so it was that this healthy ice cream recipe came to be. I am indebted to Gwyneth Paltrow's original recipe, and am loving having a cool and soothing snack which is also healthy, nourishing and dairy free to boot. Perhaps the Codeine is playing with my mind, but it feels good to be blogging healthy for a change.

I may be a little quiet around here over the next few weeks, so please bear with me while I get back to my best self. If any brave readers have had a tonsillectomy as an adult - I would LOVE to hear your tips and tricks for eating through this thang.

THE INGREDIENTS

2 small bananas

50ml almond milk

2 tsp golden syrup

1/2 tsp salt

crushed almonds, to top 

THE RECIPE

Begin by slice the bananas into thin disks, and freezing until solid. They keep well, so I tend to freeze a whole bunch this way. 

In a blender, blitz the almond milk, maple syrup and salt. Add the bananas and blitz until smooth. Serve immediately topped with crushed nuts, or store in a tub in the freezer for up to one month. 

Continue reading

SALTED CARAMEL BANANA TARTE TATIN

 I've made no secret on this blog of my firm belief that baking is all about association. Call me crazy, but I really do think that it's as deeply rooted in my genetic heritage as my height and eye colour. While I'm sure the scientifically-inclined among you would disagree, a love of baking seems to have trickled down my ancestry as strongly as any dominant strand. 

Just as baking comes from my Mum, my criminally sweet tooth is all Dad. The two together make for a very dangerous cocktail, and I suppose this blog is the product. This tart is delicious twist on the French classic, and is the perfect treat for all our hard working dads. Sadly mine has given up sugar which, as Pudding Lane's biggest fan, is really rather impressive. 

THE INGREDIENTS
pastry
225g plain flour
pinch of salt
190g unsalted butter
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
caramel
100g caster sugar
60g butter
1 tsp salt
3 firm bananas

THE RECIPE
To make the rough-puff pastry, combine the flour and salt in a large, clean basin. Cube up the cold butter, then add to the bowl, stirring and chopping it a little using a round-ended knife. Once the butter is well coated in flour, add the lemon juice along with 125ml of cool water. Continue mixing and vaguely chopping with the knife, until the mixture has formed a rough, soft dough.

Tip this onto a well floured surface, and shape roughly into a square. Roll into a rectangle which is roughly 35x20 cm, then fold into thirds. Roll the pastry out again into another rectangle, and repeat the process. Repeat this 4-5 times. Wrap up your pastry in clingfilm, and leave to cool down in the fridge for a few hours, or preferably overnight.

To make the caramel, heat the sugar in a pan with a few tablespoons of water. Be patient with it and don't stir it, it will end in tears and wasted sugar. Hold your nerve and let it bubble for 5-10 minutes, until it goes a golden colour and is starting to become liquid. Add the butter and salt, and shake the pan (no stirring) to combine. Pour into the base of a round oven-proof dish, then cut the bananas into rounds and layer over the caramel.

Roll out your chilled pastry, and cut a circle just bigger than the banana dish. Place on top and tuck around the bananas, then bake at 180C for 40-45 minutes. Your tart is cooked when the pastry is golden and firm to the touch. Flip it onto a plate (beware of hot rogue caramel) as soon as you take it out of the oven.

Continue reading

BANANA, RUM AND DULCE DE LECHE CAKES

 This week, the city and I celebrated our first anniversary. Yes, it's now been one whole year since I packed my life into two holdalls, a rucksack, an A2 folder and a handbag. While the logistical nightmare that was that train journey remains firmly ingrained in my memory, it's been an incredible year. London, I love you.

Of course, there are things that need work - the housing bubble, the district line, Covent Garden on Saturdays - but nobody's perfect are they? I'm sure I speak for a lot of Londoner's in admitting that it's very easy to get caught up in the complaining, and forget how lucky we are to live in this big ol' city. 

Even with a year of living and playing under my belt, I feel like i'm still just scratching the surface of this city. Seeing as we seem to be going steady these days, I'm making a conscious effort to keep the romance alive and continue exploring and experiencing new things. I would love to hear any suggestions you have for my London bucket-list. Bonus points for anything involving cake, of course. 

Jellied eels and mash these are not, but with Caribbean spirit seeping out of Notting Hill, they seemed a fitting little tribute to the city. As I may have mentioned, Dulce de Leche is a serious weakness of mine. I'm talking spoon, bowl, demolition. The bananas and rum are rather delicious too but if nothing else, make these cakes to keep your caramel safe from gluttonous fridge pickers like myself.

You can buy dulce de leche of course, but it's dangerously good if you take the time to make it yourself. You can find my cheats recipe here.

 THE INGREDIENTS

3 small, very ripe bananas

95g unsalted butter

130g plain flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

95g light muscovado sugar

2 eggs
100g dulce de leche
2.5 tbsp dark rum
100g pecans

THE RECIPE

Preheat your oven to 180C, and grease a mini-muffin tin. Pop your butter in the microwave to melt it. Seperately, peel your bananas into a bowl, and mash them up until pureed. Weigh the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt, sugar and eggs into a third bowl, and beat until smooth and combined. While the mixer is going, add the butter and banana puree. 

Measure 1 tbsp of mixture into each tin, then top up equally with anything you have left in the bowl. Bake in your preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until nicely risen and golden.

Seperately, weigh the dulce de leche and rum into a bowl, and beat to combine. Decant into a piping bag. Take each cake, a piece the top with the end of the piping bag. Squeeze the caramel in until it starts to bubble to the surface with a dollop and stick on a pecan. Repeat until all the cakes are full to the brim of sticky warm rum caramel.  

Continue reading

BANANA AND WALNUT BREAD

The sun is shining and London is a different city. Balmy days and lazy evenings have given us city folk a healthy dose of perspective, and had the yuppies and cabbies (lets overlook that strike) alike grinning from ear to ear. I've spent rather a lot of the past few weeks outdoors armed with a cold one, meaning that both my kitchen and Pudding Lane have been a little neglected. Love the sun as I do, it's good to be back.

Mindful that our tans won't top up themselves, here's a recipe that you can whip up and forget about in ten short minutes. This is an all time favourite in our household, and has a sneaky habit of disappearing much quicker than it should during bikini-season. Maybe it's because it's sweet, golden and charmingly moorish, just like the sun when he's got his cap on.

While this is basking at 180C for just under an hour, you can bask in this beautiful British sunshine. Thank me later.

THE INGREDIENTS

4 small, very ripe bananas

125g unsalted butter

175g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

130g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

100g white chocolate

60g walnut 

THE RECIPE 

Preheat your oven to 180C, and line a 1kg loaf tin with baking parchment. Pop your butter in the microwave to melt it. Seperately, peel your bananas into a bowl, and mash them up until pureed. Weigh the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt, sugar, eggs and vanilla into a third bowl, and beat until smooth and combined. While the mixer is going, add the butter and banana puree. 

Chop the chocolate and walnuts into chunks, then fold through the mixture by hand. Pour into the lined tin, then bake in the centre of the oven for 1 hour. Check it after 45 minutes, and cover with foil if the top is browning too quickly. 

Once the cake passes the knife test, whip it out and onto a plate. Slice up roughly, take outside with a few bottles and make the most of Britain's very best. On summer, please don't go just yet. 

 
 

Continue reading