Banana Cakes with Coconut Creme Patissiere; deliciously soft mini banana cakes swirled with a sweet and silky coconut custard.
We need to talk about frosting.
Frosting, icing, buttercream. Whatever you refer to it as, I’m talking about the soft hyper-sweet stuff we spread and pipe on cakes like there’s no tomorrow.
Of course, this stuff does have its uses. It can provide additional flavour in layer cakes, it can beautifully salvage the look of an ugly cupcake. However, the thoughtless reliance on this most sugary of substances is pushing other, more delicious, options to the side.
The standard frosting we see most often in the UK is the 2:1 sugar and butter variety. Sometimes known as American buttercream, this simple concoction of fat and sweetener can be delicious in small doses but utterly nauseating beyond that. Being so easy to make, and having a relatively long lifespan, it’s easy to see how it has become so popular. In fact, you can find some very delicious uses for it here at Maverick Baking.
Whether it’s the many years of making and eating standard frosting, or the gradual cultural shift away from the over-sweetened, I’m constantly dreaming about cake-decorating alternatives.
Chocolate ganache is my favourite alternative to regular frosting, in all its bold richness. On the other hand you have the dreamily light meringue buttercreams, in Swiss or Italian varieties. Then you can turn to the impossibly smooth and buttery French buttercream. Such flavourful and deliciously-textured alternatives to the usual mega-sugary frosting. That’s all before you even mention the star of tonight’s show, Creme Patissiere.
Creme Patissiere is a French-style thickened custard made with milk, eggs, sugar and cornflour. It’s a little bit more fiddly and time-consuming than standard frosting but oh so much more rewarding. You have perhaps seen or eaten this glorious stuff in eclairs, profiteroles, fruit tarts or vanilla slices. This particular recipe will show you how to make Coconut Creme Patissiere. All the classic flavour of traditional Creme Patissiere and its custardy goodness, but with a sunny coconut milk flavour.
The rich, but not too sweet, Coconut Creme Patissiere works wonders on these mini Banana Cakes I want to share with you today. Banana Cakes are typically very sweet, thanks to the use of overripe bananas, so the last thing they need is to be smothered in sugar. Instead, this Coconut Creme Patissiere dresses them up in the most classy manner you could dream of. Fluffy cake, effortlessly moist and full of brown sugar and banana flavour, with a smoothly voluptuous mouthful of coconut custard on top.
The Banana Cakes in this recipe are stamped out from a sheet of baked cake, almost Milk Bar style. While you can, of course, bake the same amount of cake mixture in 12-16 cupcake cases instead, I really enjoy the clean effect of cutting a larger cake instead. You really are free to decorate these mini Banana Cakes with Coconut Creme Patissiere in any manner that pleases you. I like erratic splodges through a star-shaped piping nozzle, though maybe you prefer to swirl or spread? You can also top them with anything you like. Toasted coconut flakes, crispy banana chips or a coconut cereal are all delicious additions. The cakes you see pictured were in the process of being sprinkled with my favourite coconut cashew granola, for added texture.
You’ll need to store these Banana Cakes with Coconut Creme Patissiere in the fridge to keep the custard cold. This makes them an ideal little warm-weather treat. A lovely bite to have with your first iced coffee of the day, or a refreshing wee dessert after dinner.
For this recipe, you’ll need to look out a medium saucepan, a medium baking tray, and a couple of mixing bowls, you may also want to grab an electric whisk and a round cutter.
I hope you enjoy these wee cakes as much as we have. Stay safe!
Want to save these Banana Cakes with Coconut Creme Patissiere for later? Pin the image below!
To make these Banana Cakes with Coconut Creme Patissiere, simply follow the recipe below!
Banana Cakes with Coconut Creme Patissiere
Notes
BE A MAVERICK: why not decorate these mini cakes with the seeds/pulp from a fresh passion fruit for even more tropical flavour?
These Banana Cakes with Coconut Creme Patissiere will keep for up to 3 days. They should be kept in an airtight container in the fridge to keep the Coconut Creme Patissiere nice and fresh.
Ingredients
For the Coconut Creme Patissiere:
- 400ml (1 regular can) canned coconut milk
- 4 large egg yolks
- 100g (½ cup) sugar
- 40g (4 tbsp) cornflour
For the Banana Cakes:
- 200g (13 tbsp) softened salted butter or margarine
- 150g (¾ cup) soft light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 ripe medium bananas
- 200g (1 ½ cups) self-raising flour
To decorate:
- Handful of coconut flakes or coconut cereal (optional)
Instructions
For the Coconut Creme Patissiere:
- Pour your coconut milk into a medium saucepan and place it over a medium heat. You may have big solid lumps in your milk but these will melt as they warm up!
- Keep the coconut milk on the heat until gently steaming and hot to the touch.
- In a large bowl, whisk together your egg yolks, sugar and cornflour until you have a smooth orange-yellow paste.
- Slowly pour the full pan of hot coconut milk into the bowl of paste, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling.
- Pour the mixture back into the pan and place back over a medium heat.
- Cook the mixture for 5-10 minutes, whisking constantly to ensure it stays smooth and silky.
- Once the mixture has thickened into a smooth custard, remove it from the heat, pour it into a clean bowl or jug and place a layer of clingfilm directly onto it.
- Allow to cool to room temperature before chilling in the fridge until cold.
- Meanwhile, make your cakes!
For the Banana Cakes:
- Preheat your oven – 180 C / 160 C fan / 350 F / gas mark 4.
- Grease and line a 30 x 20cm (12 x 8in) rectangular baking tray or roasting tin. You could also use a cupcake/muffin tin if you like, but you may not achieve the same straight edges!
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter/margarine and sugar until fluffy. This should take 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each.
- Peel and mash the bananas with a fork into a smooth-ish puree, and stir it into the bowl.
- Gently stir in the flour and salt (if using) until just combined into a smooth cake mix.
- Pour the cake mix into your prepared tray and smooth it out.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes until risen, golden and firm to the touch. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should be removed cleanly once it is baked.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.
To decorate:
- Use a round cutter, or the rim of a glass, to cut out mini cakes from your tray of cake. The size and number is completely up to you!
- Spread or pipe your chilled stiff Coconut Creme Patissiere onto your mini cakes.
- Decorate with desiccated or shredded coconut flakes or, as I did, with some crunchy coconut cereal.
- Enjoy!
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