Monday, November 10, 2008

Black Bottom Banana Cream


When I think of pie as comfort food, pie that I remember from childhood, pie that I want to try and master, Banana Cream is, honestly, not one of the first that comes to mind. Of course, that may be because I've never had Black Bottom Banana Cream. It's all about the chocolate, my friends.


I used the ganache portion of this recipe for the "Black Bottom". Topped that with sliced bananas.


Then topped that with the pudding portion of this recipe. Warning: this recipe doesn't specify that you should cover the pie with plastic wrap pressed right onto the top of the pudding while it is refrigerated and before piping on the whipped cream. You should. If you don't do this, you'll get a skin that is not delicious.


I think I've got my crust recipe. It tastes buttery. It's tender and flaky. It stands up to cutting and serving, but shatters in your mouth. Another week to confirm, and maybe I'll post it. Or maybe I'll wait until the end of the year.


Mise en place for pudding:


P.S. My right shoulder hurts. Making pudding is a workout. I think I mentioned this before.



As usual, I had to have a second piece to confirm whether this pie was good or not. I ate the first piece during a birthday party for The Pie Queen. There was so much chaos, it was hard to really pay attention to the pie. I enjoyed the second piece by myself. In silence. With extra whipped cream. And with a cold glass of milk. Mmm. Lovely.



Oh, and, that bit of loveliness in the background of the picture on the left? A butterscotch pecan cake my sister made for The Pie Queen's birthday party. Yum.


Pie-Rating--Black Bottom Banana Cream--GOOD--NEEDS TWEAKING

In a couple of ways:
  • I want to figure out how to incorporate coconut rum into it. Doesn't that sound delicious?! Do I add it into the pudding? The ganache? Hmm...have to ponder that one more
  • The shrinkage is killing me (but that's not a problem specific to this pie--an ongoing thing I need to experiment with more):


  • I need a bigger star tip for piping. This really should have had more whipped cream on top.


Next up: I'm giving apple pie another go. This time I'm using my mom's recipe. Which she told me tonight she learned from her mother. Who learned it from her grandmother. So I'll call it Triple G (Great Great Grandmother's) Apple Pie.

4 comments:

Miriam Latour said...

Please post your crust recipe soon! I'm making ten pies for a big family Thanksgiving and I'd LOVE a new pie crust recipe.

pinky said...

Banana cream pie...very homey and full of memories for me since I grew up eating lots of it. Coconut cream pie was another frequent favorite and is never made to my liking by the unmentionable local restaurants that specialize in pie.

Thanks for the pie...and just in case your sis is reading this...that cake was tremendous also.

Summer said...

Hey, do you have a good recipe for a streusel topping? Since you have more gumption than I, you wanna try some out for me???

April Fossen said...

I think I have a good streusel topping recipe. What do you want me to try it on?