Banoffee Cheesecake

Long were the weeks and months that I lusted after this recipe when I first saw its picture in a food magazine. It looked so pretty and I could just imagine how luscious it would taste. A week ago when I was able to finally make it, I was proven right.

Though there are several layers, it's not hard to make. I do have an issue with the baking time which I increased by 5 minutes because the middle is a bit undercooked (not that I mind). The cheesecake layer itself has just the right amount of sweetness and not sour at all. While the biscuit layer gives it a nice crunch. Actually, I think the cliche - the whole is more than the sum of the parts - applies well here. Each layer is good but eaten as a whole, they blend and complement each other so well that I could only rave and rave about it. Even my husband who's not really a dessert fan loved this. I also liked the fact that the toffee sauce is on the side so you can put as little or as much as you like.

Thanks to Silvana di Franco for this little piece of heaven in a cake tin which I got from the BBC Good Food magazine. By the way, I though 'Banoffee' was the name of some exotic town in a far flung place like Canada. It turned out it was from banana + toffee = banoffee ! I was laughing so hard when I realised my stupidity. LOL indeed! And it did not come from abroad, it was thought up by a chef in The Hungry Monk pub in Sussex. It is English after all!




Banoffee Cheesecake

*Crust:
85 g  [1/3 cup] butter - melted
200 g  gingernut biscuits - crushed

*Filling:
750 g  mascarpone (or cream cheese)
3 large eggs
2 Tbsp cornflour
140 g  [heaping 2/3 cup] golden caster sugar
finely grated zest of lemon
1 tsp vanilla

*Toffee Sauce:
50 g  butter
100 g  [1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp] light muscovado sugar
142 ml [1/3 cup + 1/4 cup] double/heavy cream

*Toppings:
2 medium bananas - sliced thickly
fresh lemon juice
284 ml [1 cup + 2 Tbsp] whipping or double cream

• Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.


• For the crust:
  1. Mix melted butter with the biscuit crumbs and press the mixture evenly into the bottom of a 23cm (9-inch) springform pan (preferably non-stick).
  2. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.


• For the filling:
  1. Beat all the ingredients in a bowl with an electric mixer until well combined.
  2. Pour into the cake pan set on a baking sheet making sure to level off the top.
  3. Bake for 50 minutes until golden brown.
  4. The top will be a little wobbly but it will set as it cools. Turn the oven off and leave the oven door open leaving the cheesecake to cool completely inside.


• For the toffee sauce:
  1. Melt the butter gently with the double cream and sugar in a saucepan while continously stirring until the sugar dissolves. Let it gently boil briefly. Cool completely.


• For the topping:
  1. Whip the whipping cream to soft peaks.
  2. Squeeze some lemon juice onto the sliced bananas.


• To assemble:
  1. Put the whipped cream on the cooled cheesecake in a swirling fashion.
  2. Wedge the banana slices in the cream.
  3. Drizzle a little toffee sauce on top and also serve on the side.