I'm not going to be here for my good friend Ayumi's birthday so I thought I would make her something. I asked her what she liked and didn't like, and she suggested that I make something "experimental". And.. well I just happen to have the perfect thing! I decided to make her the tart I had been thinking about for a while: the banana, rum, coconut tart with a thin layer of chocolate on the base (I chose white for color consistency) and then a simple pastry cream made with vanilla bean and rum.
She liked it. And so did the others who tried it, which is always a relief as often I'm not sure what I'm thinking when I pair random tastes together, but it seemed to work. All the hard work of preserving worked out!
I miss fruit. I realize that it is Winter, but I'm feeling the bite. It is awfully hard to eat local here in the NW as there really isn't any fruit available right now that is local. So, I've decided that my luxuries are fruits from afar, and this jam/puree/goodness that I call "Banana Sunshine" is part of that desire.
It contains fresh (yes fresh! I've never used fresh coconut and coconut milk), banana's, orange and vanilla pods. That's about it really, but it is pretty tasty. I plan on trying it out as the base for some tarts - I was thinking a pate sucre base (baked completely), a thin layer of brushed on bittersweet chocolate, banana sunshine, and then just a simple pastry cream on top. Maybe some sort of chocolate sauce as well, but who knows!
This recipe was from the Christine Ferber book 'Mes Confitures: The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber". Amazing, amazing amzing. This recipe is simply called "Banana and Coconut".
A moist, fruity cake with a slight taste of rum.
Ingredients: Banana Cake
2.75 cups all-purpose flour
1.25 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1.5 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs at room temp
2 Tbs. rum
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 can of unsweetened coconut milk (can use light as I did)
3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup raisins
Ingredients: Rum Syrup
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
Ingredients: Cream Filling
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbs. confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Method: Banana Cake
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350F.
2. Butter 2 springform pans, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess.
3. Mix the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt together in a bowl.
4. With a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is creamy.
5. Add the sugars and beat for a couple of min.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Then add the vanilla and the rum.
7. Lower the speed and add the bananas. Keep it on low speed while you add the coconut milk and the flour - add the dry ingredients and liquid ingredients alternately, adding the flour mixture in three portions and the coconut milk in two (begin and end with the dry ingredients).
8. Mix until everything is just Incorporated.
9. Using a rubber spatula gently stir in the coconut and raisins.
10. Divide the batter between the two pans.
11. Bake for around 45 min, or until the cakes are a deep golden brown.
Method: Rum Syrup (make this while the cake is in the oven)
1. Stir the water and the sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then bring it to a boil.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the rum.
3. Pour the syrup in a heat-proof bowl and let it cool down.
Method: Assembly
1. Transfer baked cakes to a cooling rack to for 5 min, and then unmold and place back on the racks.
2. With a thin knife, poke small slits all over the cakes.
4. With a pastry brush, slowly brush on the rum syrup on the cake.
5. Leave the cakes to cool to room temp.
6. Prepare the whipped cream filling (whisk the cream and sugar together, until thick and pretty firm - then mix in the vanilla extract by hand).
7. Add a thick layer of whipped cream onto one of the cakes and then place the other cake on top.
Once again from Baking From My Home To Yours, Dorie Greenspan pp. 204-5.
I'm not going to be here for my good friend Ayumi's birthday so I thought I would make her something. I asked her what she liked and didn't like, and she suggested that I make something "experimental". And.. well I just happen to have the perfect thing! I decided to make her the tart I had been thinking about for a while: the banana, rum, coconut tart with a thin layer of chocolate on the base (I chose white for color consistency) and then a simple pastry cream made with vanilla bean and rum.
