Tropical Tumbler Trifle

Something a bit different today...a mini mid-week offering. These Tropical Tumbler Trifles serve two purposes:

1. I'm having a bit of an oven crisis at the moment...since moving into a new house I've been battling with a new oven that doesn't want to play ball...there have been one or two cake wrecks thus far! So this is a no bake option that doesn't require a temperamental oven!
2. It is my entry into new blogging challenge 'Dish of the Month'...find out more below.

This is so simple to make, so if you want something quick and easy or you're having oven problems like me then give this a go. The tropical aspect comes from the hidden surprise in the bottom of the tumbler...banana that has been brought to the boil in coconut milk and then left to cool. You can just see a hint of the banana at the bottom of the glass. On top of this there are sliced peaches, whipped cream with vanilla extract and some crushed ginger nuts.

As mentioned I'm entering my trifles into new challenge, Dish of the Month. All you need to do to enter is make and blog any Nigel Slater recipe, the idea arisng from his Dish of the Day programme. The challenge is being run jointly by Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen and Sue from A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate.

You can find the recipe for these trifles on the BBC GoodFood website. Although a word of warning, if you're thinking about making them then check the ingredient list as the proportions don't seem quite right for two people....500ml double cream for two? I would say you could probably half all the ingredients except the banana and so not to be wasteful, find another use for the coconut milk once used as a boiling liquid. I also used peach slices as they fitted more neatly into the glass.

Little Banana Cakes with Maple Pecan Icing

These little treats are just the thing to whip up when you're short of time, they're delicious and look impressive... in a cute sort of way, and yet they take no time at all! They were lovely and moist and banana-ry which was helped by very ripe bananas, and the maple icing and pecans finished the cakes off perfectly to give a very tasty treat... and one that I will certainly be making again.

As you can see in the picture the cakes came out of the oven quite rounded, however the recipe calls for them to be served upturned... as you can imagine this would give quite wobbly, odd looking cakes! Therefore I cut the top off each cake before turning it over to give a stable base... and as I don't like waste, I obviously had to eat the off cuts...I was performing a public service... honest! ;-)

In order to ensure your banana cakes come out of the muffin tin in one piece is to make sure the holes are well greased. A top tip is to use Wilton's Cake Release oil which they claim 'works everytime'.

Happy baking!


50g butter, softened
85g caster sugar
100g plain flour
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 large egg
1 ripe banana
11/2 tsp baking powder

Icing

100g icing sugar
2-3 tbsp maple syrup
A drop of vanilla extract
18 pecan halves (toasted if you wish)

Pre-heat your oven to 190c/170c fan/gas 5 and grease a muffin pan (I made double the quantity and used a 12 hole pan). Add all the cake ingredients in to a bowl and beat with an electric whisk until you've got a smooth batter. Divide the mixture between the muffin pan holes and bake for around 15minutes, check with a cake tester. Once removed from the oven, leave for 5 mins in the pan before cooling on a wire rack. At this stage you can also freeze these cakes!

Once cool, to make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and then add in the maple syrup and vanilla and then mix to a smooth, thick icing which is suitable for drizzling over your cakes. Then finally, turn your cakes upside down (cutting the tops off if necessary) and drizzle the icing over the cakes, letting it run down the sides before topping each cake with 2-3 pecans.

* Adapted from BBC GoodFood 2012 Calendar