This is our new favourite ever dessert. I need to give you some perspective to enable you to grasp the enormity of this… Ian has a thing for cream brulee – if it’s on a menu, he’s going to order it – he’ll even sacrifice a decent main course to justify having such an indulgent dessert.

He ate one small bowl of this banana dessert with a dinky, melting ball of ice cream and declared that it just might be his favourite. That, dear friends, is profound. If anything, it occupies the same territory as a fruit crumble, but frankly, it’s in a league of its own.

I saw this recipe whilst perusing Bake or Break. It is a recipe from a magazine called Southern Living. Now, there’s no chance of me getting that shipped over here once a month, but if this is an example of their recipes, then holy tastebuds, Batman.

The title is misleading, because you do not make this with banana bread; rather it uses the same kind of ingredients that you would use in banana bread, but waves the Fairy Godmother wand over it. Amazingly, it takes no longer to make than banana bread, but has wow factor – wow factor that banana bread will never achieve.

Banana bread is a satisfying way to use up brown bananas, but this dessert is a good reason for speeding their demise by whatever methods are necessary.
A light, thin sponge base, brown sugar sweet, soft bananas and a brown sugared, pecan, oaty crisp topping all nestled together and topped with a milky vanilla ice cream. I could weep at the memory.

Start with the crisp topping – stir together 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, and work in 4oz butter until crumbly, then stir in 1 cup porridge oats and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Sit it to one side for a moment.

To make the base, whisk 1 cup of self raising flour, 1 cup caster sugar, and 1 cup milk just until blended. It’s essentially a pancake batter. Whisk in 4oz melted unsalted butter. Pour into a greased 11″ x 7″ dish and lay the slices of 4 bananas over the top.

Now spoon over the crisp topping – seriously, this is all just a matter of moments.

Bake at 375F/190C/GM5 for 40-45 minutes until golden and wonderful

As you can see, there are 3 layers comprising of a thin layer of sponge, the baked bananas and the crisp topping. Together? Bliss.

For the love of Batman, don’t forget the vanilla ice cream.

The recipe.