Coconut and Banana Cream Cake - Recipe

The past few days I have been very ill and got a terrible cold. So being in bed for most of the time, I had plenty of time to check video clips of my favorite youtube chefs. One of them is Stephanie Jaworski (Joyofbaking) who gives step by step instructions of how to bake various things. I checked several videos of different pies which she demonstrates. Her Banana Cream Pie looked very luscious and decadent, so I decided to give it a go myself, but as usual put my own little twist on it. 

Banana Cream Pie

I love the combination of coconut and banana, and therefore use both of these flavors, as well as chocolate and vanilla cream. Usually a pie is based with a shortbread crust, but I skipped this part completely and used a medium flan case, which tastes just like a layer of sponge cake. You can usually find them in the baking section in most supermarkets. This particular one comes from Sainsbury's. I wanted my cake to have a nice and fluffy base and not a hard shortbread crust as I am not a big fan of them. If you can not find one of these flan cases, you can always make a sponge cake and cut it in 2 layers and use one of them. Then, I did a vanilla cream by using the Marsian cream which is instant vanilla cream from Sweden. But you can make any vanilla cream you like and use it. I also made a very light coconut caramel sauce for this cake. A few easy steps, but what a lovely and decadent cake!!

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 flan case (or a pie crust)

1/4 cup desiccated coconut

2 tbsp golden syrup

2 tbsp brown sugar

3 tbsp doouble cream

2 tsp vanilla sugar

1/3 of dark chocolate bar

1 big banana, diced

1 cup vanilla cream

1 cup whipped cream

coco powder

Method:

1- Begin with making the light coconut caramel sauce. In a sauce pan, add all the ingredients for the sauce and mix well: coconut, double cream, golden syrup, brown sugar, vanilla sugar. Stir the mix on low heat until light brown and put a side.

2- Make your vanilla cream or pudding. If you cant do any of them you can even use a very good quality custard. If it is to runny, mix in few spoons of whipped cream to make it light and fluffy. 

3- Dice the banana in thin slices. Warm the chocolate in the microwave for 20 seconds until you can stir it into a smooth and spreadable consistency. Start the first layer of the cake case by spreading the melted chocolate on.

4. Let the chocolate set a little and then spread the coconut and caramel sauce on top of the chocolate layer.

5. After the first 2 layers, spread an even layer of the vanilla cream. Add the diced banana on top of the vanilla cream and press a little so it sets properly in the cake case and has vanilla cream around the banana slices.

6. The last layer of the cake is the whipped cream. You can either spread it on like I have done or pipe it nicely. Sprinkle some cocoa powder in the end and put the cake in the fridge to chill so all layers sets. 

7. Serve the cake with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

My inspiration for this cake comes from Stephanie Jaworski's Banana Cream Pie. She is a great inspiration for me when it comes to baking and I have tried several of her recipes by following her great youtube channel Joyofbaking1. Helene gave me the tip to follow her videos when I was not so successful with my cupcakes in the beginning of my baking trials. From then on, I always check her videos first when I bake as she usually always have a demonstration of anything I would like to bake. 

Enjoy!