The Ultimate Bannoffee Pie

Recipe: Bannoffee Pie Recipe »

This Bannoffee Pie recipe is the ultimate version of the super popular British dessert that is loved all over the world. Fresh bananas, chocolate, thick caramel, lashings of whipped cream and a delicious biscuit or cookie base make up this Bannoffee Pie. This dessert is simple but we will show you how to make a show-stopping version that is great for a pot luck and special enough to serve at a dinner party or for Father's Day.

About This Bannoffee Pie

Bannoffee Pie combines fresh bananas, cookie base, cream and chocolate and is a creation by Nigel Mackenzie and chef Ian Dowding at The Hungry Monk Restaurant in Jevington, East Sussex, England from 1971. They adapted an American recipe for Blum's Coffee Toffee Pie by adding fresh bananas spelling it "Banoffi Pie", a portmanteau of the words banana and toffee.

Bannoffee became a very popular dessert to take to friend's houses for pot lucks as it is simple and made of bought ingredients but together it tastes so heavenly that nobody ever notices that! I remember the first time I tried it in London many years ago when I was visiting my sister who lived there. She gave me some and I've loved bannoffee ever since. I've tried making bannoffee slice, bannoffee banana splits and almost bannoffee cupcakes. This bannoffee pie was inspired by June's Khaoyai in Ratchasima, Thailand who make versions of bannoffee pie with a variety of toppings like matcha powder!

Ingredients For Bannoffee Pie

• Digestive biscuits/cookies- digestives are British biscuits aka cookies for Americans :)
• Butter - use salted butter or any butter that you have.
• Dark chocolate - I like using dark chocolate but if you prefer milk chocolate, go for it!
• Coconut oil - I like using coconut oil as the flavour goes well with chocolate but use any other mild flavoured oil too.
• Caramel top and fill - this is what it is called in Australia. I believe that it is called Carnation Caramel in the UK and US.
• Salt - use fine salt to balance the sweetness of the caramel.
• Bananas - use firm, just ripe bananas and choose thinner bananas (otherwise the banana might be too much). Note: if you aren't a huge banana fan simply slice up 2-3 bananas and add them sitting up on the base of the pie. This is a very banana forward pie but they use huge bananas at Jane's lining the pie so that when you cut it, you get the rounds of banana showing in every slice.
• Cream cheese - use full fat cream cheese
• Caster or superfine sugar - you can also use powdered or icing sugar in the same weight.
• Thickened or pure cream - thickened cream has around 35% fat
• Double cream - double cream has around 45% fat
• Vanilla - vanilla extract, paste or essence will work
• Cocoa powder or grated chocolate works well to sprinkle on top of the Bannoffee pie

Tips For Making Bannoffee Pie

1 - Some people suggest bashing digestives in a ziplock a rolling pin but I find that you really need the food processor or Thermomix to make sure that they are the consistent fine size. That way the butter and the fine crumbs stick together better.

2 - You need a very thick caramel for this. The only caramel I have found thick enough is good old fashioned Caramel Top n Fill in a tin. Other ones like the Bonne Mamman ones are smoother but they are a bit runnier and you want the caramel to stay within the pie and not drip out the sides.

3 - You can also make your own caramel by boiling condensed milk in a jar but you need to make sure that it is thick enough which only happens when you cook it far enough. When you boil it in a tin you can't see the consistency until you open it which by then is too late. I've also made it in the oven where you can control it better so try this oven version of caramel topping if you want to make your own. But seriously, I never do and just buy it! ;)

4 - I also tried making the base with Biscoff cookies and while the flavour is nice, Biscoff cookies are more buttery than digestives or Graham crackers so you do have to adjust the butter level down. Having said this, I actually prefer the flavour with digestive biscuits because the main flavours are the bananas and the caramel.

5 - I use cream cheese and double cream to help stabilise the whipped cream without using gelatine. The extra fat in double cream provides a bit more structural integrity too. Don't use light cream for whipping as it doesn't have enough fat to be whipped. You can also use all double cream too if that is what you have. The main reason why I don't is because double cream is expensive!

6 - A Cake Turntable and dough scrapers are your best friend for getting the cream even around the sides and top. I use this cake turntable along with these dough scrapers.

7 - The best knife to cut cakes and pie is an extra long 12inch knife that is not curved like a chef's knife. I used this knife to cut the pie. It is very sharp though! Wipe the knife on paper towels between incisions for a clean cut.

Bannoffee Pie Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus 15 minutes freezing time and 2 hours refrigeration

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Makes: 10 slices

Ingredients Needed

• 355g/12.5ozs digestive biscuits/cookies
• 125g/4ozs melted butter
• 200g/7ozs dark chocolate
• 1 tablespoon/15ml/0.5oz coconut oil
• 400ml/14oz tin Caramel top n' fill
• Pinch of salt
• 800g/1.7lbs thinner bananas (weight with skin on)* see note below about bananas
• 150g/5ozs cream cheese, chilled
• 120g/4ozs caster or superfine sugar
• 950ml/1 quart thickened or pure cream, chilled
• 200ml/7flozs double cream, chilled
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Note: This bannoffee pie is very banana forward so if you want a traditional bannoffee pie, use 2-3 bananas sliced up on the base or slice the whole bananas lengthways and lay the whole sliced bananas on the base.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F conventional or 160C/320F fan forced. Blend the digestive biscuits in a food processor or Thermomix until very fine (5 seconds, Speed #9). Empty into a bowl. Add melted butter to the mixture and mix well until you get the texture of damp sand. Press into the base and sides of a 23.5cms/9.2inch on base, 25.5cms/10inch on top rim, 3cms/1.2inch high flan tin with removable base. I use a glass to smooth out the base and make the sides and a knife to smooth the edges. Take your time making sure that this is even around the edge and on the base. It takes me around 8 minutes to do this. Bake for 15 minutes. Then cool on a rack and then transfer to the freezer to freeze for 15 minutes. Then gently lift the base out of the collar of the tin leaving the biscuit base on the cake tin base.

Step 2 - Place the base on a cake turntable. Melt the chocolate in a microwave in a double boiler or in a microwave on 70% power in 30 second increments. Stir in coconut oil and spread along the base and slightly up the sides to give the base a bit more structure and hold.

Step 3 - Remove bananas from skins but do not cut. Lay out whole bananas on top of the chocolate and try and fit as many bananas as possible. You may need to cut a banana or two to fit it in.

Step 4 - Take the caramel top and fill and stir in the salt with an angled palette knife. Spread out over the top of bananas avoiding the last inch around the edge.

Step 5a stand mixer - Make the stabilised whipped cream. Freeze a mixer bowl, beater and whisk for 5-10 minutes before using. Using a beater attachment beat the cream cheese and sugar together until very smooth (around 1 minute). Then switch to the whisk attachment and add the cream and vanilla and whisk until it starts to come together and you get soft peaks. Then scrape around the edges with a spatula to incorporate the cream cheese into the cream and whisk again until you get stiff peaks. Your cream is ready when you can slice a butter knife through the cream and the cut holds.

Step 5b Thermomix - Freeze the bowl and butterfly insert for 5-10 minutes before using. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together 15 seconds speed #4. Add the two creams and vanilla and set to 2.5 minutes speed #4. Take the MC out and whip for another 30 seconds, speed #4 while watching only stopping when the cream becomes thick enough. Your cream is ready when you can slice a butter knife through the cream and the cut holds.

Step 6 - Spread the cream over the top of the pie making it around 4cms/1.6inches high. Using a dough scraper, smooth the top and the sides repeating until smooth spinning the turntable to help achieve a smooth finish. You may need to add cream in areas and re-smooth it. Refrigerate for 2 hours. When ready to serve, sift cocoa powder or chocolate powder on top and cut into slices.

Personal Note

I made this pie for Miss America's birthday but unfortunately Queen Viv had mixed the dates around and we had to change things and Miss America was no longer able to make his own birthday dinner due to work. It was made even more awkward because she hadn't told me that he couldn't come so this pie was made for him but he wasn't there. I had also already paid a deposit for 4 people to have dinner but she had two friends Matt and Carmen that lived nearby that were keen to try the restaurant out.

It was a fairly noisy restaurant but not too overwhelming but sometimes the noise would blur the edge from words so that they weren't entirely clear. Butt Matt and Carmen were great company.

We were talking about something when Matt brought up a tv show. "It's called 'Will it Cake' and they sculpt all sorts of things out of cake like bricks," he explained. I've seen the show and sometimes they look so identical that you often can't tell which is the real one and which is the version made out of cake until you slice into it.

"That's identity theft!" exclaimed Queen Viv.

"Of a brick?" I asked her.

"That should be illegal!" she said shaking her head indignantly. It turns out that she thought that it was a tv show about "Will and Kate" the royal couple and because it was a bit too noisy she thought that there was a tv show where they were sculpting the royal duo doing all sorts of things!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you like bannoffee pie? And do you like banana forward desserts or just a little banana flavour?