Banoffee cake is believed to have been created by Ian Dowding and Nigel Mackenzie in 1972. Mackenzie owned a restaurant in East Sussex, England called The Hungry Monk and Dowding was the chef. Dowding apparently thought of the idea after seeing an American dish called “Blum’s Coffee Toffee Pie” which consisted of soft toffee topped with coffee-flavored cream. However, according to Dowding, this recipe rarely worked: it didn’t set properly, or it dried out “like concrete.”

Together they adapted the idea to toffee and bananas and invented the word “banoffi” which has now become “banoffee” and is now part of the English language used to describe anything that tastes like banana and toffee. So they added the new Banoffee Pie to their menu and found that it became so popular that diners actually requested table reservations only if this particular dessert was on the menu. In fact, it became so popular that they just couldn’t remove it from the menu.

After a couple of years or so, Dowding says other local restaurants started adding it to their menu, and then they started hearing rumors of the dessert being sold in restaurants in Australia and the United States. It also became very popular in India in the late 1970s, probably due to young backpackers who excited the locals with this dish.

Over the years, banoffee pie became more and more popular and is now served all over the world.

Below is a fantastic recipe to make your own

Ingredients

3 large bananas

300g biscuits (digestive biscuits are fine)

60g of butter

Double cream 350ml

1 tablespoon icing sugar

100g dark chocolate (to decorate)

397g candy can

1. Melt the butter in a pan. While the butter is melting, mash up the oatmeal cookies (using a blender would be perfect, otherwise a plastic bag and rolling pin would do the job just fine). Preheat the oven to 180C or gas point 4. In a bowl mix the crushed cookies with the butter.

2. Transfer the biscuit and butter mixture to a flat 20-25cm round pan and press into an even layer.

3. Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Check that the mixture is slightly toasted, if not, give it a couple more minutes. Once cool, carefully transfer the base to a plate.

4. Once the base is cold, pour the caramel evenly and place in the fridge for about 1 hour.

5. Once cool, cut the bananas and place them on top of the caramel.

6. Put the chocolate in the microwave to melt, and while it melts, whip the cream with the icing sugar until it thickens and spread over the bananas.

7. Finally, carefully pour the decoration chocolate over the dessert and serve.