Sweet treats: banana cake with miso butterscotch

By Brian Stormont

September 13 2020, 6:00pm

As the weather begins to get a little colder as we move into autumn, it’s the time of year when you seek comfort food – even if that includes something served frozen!

Bananas and butterscotch sounds like a match made in heaven and it most definitely is – the two flavours go hand in hand.

This sweet treat combines a delicious banana cake with a miso butterscotch and is served with a delightful kulfi, traditional Indian ice cream.

As long as you prepare your kulfi early, then this delightful dessert will not fail to disappoint.

It is an explosion of flavours and something that is ideal to serve at your socially-distanced dinner party.

Banana cake with miso butterscotch

(Serves 12)

Ingredients

1 tbsp black tea leaves
200ml boiling water
200g pitted dates
110g unsalted butter
350g dark muscovado sugar
1 tbsp treacle
1 tbsp date syrup
400g self-raising flour
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
200g peeled bananas

For the kulfi:

50g Ovaltine
450g condensed milk
300ml double cream

For the butterscotch:

500ml double cream
175g demerara sugar
175g unsalted butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
60g white miso

Method

The kulfi will take at least six hours to set, so make it ahead of time. In a large bowl, mix the Ovaltine into the condensed milk until there are no lumps.
In a separate bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks, then fold it into the condensed milk mixture. Pour the kulfi into a tub and freeze until set. It really is as simple as that!
Preheat the oven to 190C/Fan 170C/Gas Mark 5. Line a 24cm square cake tin with baking parchment.
Put the tea leaves in a heatproof jug or bowl, pour over the boiling water and allow to infuse for a minute. Strain the tea, discarding the tea leaves, then soak the dates in the hot tea for 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in the treacle and date syrup, followed by the flour, and mix well. Mix the eggs in one at a time.
Tip the soaked dates and tea into a blender or food processor, along with the vanilla extract, and blitz to a puree. Add the bicarbonate of soda and pulse briefly, then add to the bowl and mix thoroughly.
Wipe out the blender, add the bananas and blend until smooth, then add to the cake batter and stir in well. Pour into the tin and bake for one hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Meanwhile, to make the butterscotch, put the cream in a saucepan over low heat. Add the sugar, butter and golden syrup and whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted.
Finally whisk in the miso, then remove from the heat.
Turn the cake out on to a wire rack and leave to cool a little. To serve, cut into 12 portions, then serve warm with the hot miso butterscotch and the Ovaltine kulfi.

Recipe from Jikoni: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes From An Immigrant Kitchen by Ravinder Bhogal, photography by Kristin Perers, is published by Bloomsbury, priced £26.