The Ultimate Cheat's Banoffee Pie

The Ultimate Cheat's Banoffee Pie- a quick and easy version of the classic dessert, to feed a crowd.

collage of 4 photos of banoffee pie with text

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Are you one of the many people, like me, who thought that Banoffee Pie was an American thing? I was quite surprised when I found out that Banoffee Pie is, in fact, British. Banoffee just sounds American doesn't it? Maybe it's because they are so good with inventing insanely delicious desserts, that all the yummy involved in a Banoffee Pie seems like it must have been designed by them.

Banoffee Pie was actually invented by two British men called Nigel McKenzie and Ian Dowding at a restaurant in East Sussex called The Hungry Monk in the 1970s. The original recipe had a pastry base and coffee in the whipped cream. It was also spelt 'Banoffi' at the time.

I have always liked Banoffee Pie, and the fact that my husband had never tried it seemed like a good excuse to make one. I made it my mission to make this recipe as simple as possible because a quick dessert is a wonderful thing, especially if you have visitors coming round. So, for the Ultimate Cheat's Banoffee Pie- no boiling condensed milk, no grating chocolate and definitely no pastry! I have also included as many tips as I can, to make it even easier for you to make. One thing to remember, is that it's not one of those 'use up your brown bananas' recipes- you need ripe, but firm, bananas or it will just be mush once it has cream and caramel involved as well!

I bought a flan dish from Wilkinsons purely for this Banoffee Pie, as I didn't have one. It's a plain, white, 24cm one and it was the perfect size for this recipe. The only downside to using a flan dish, rather than a loose bottomed flan/tart tin, is that the first piece you cut is going to be pretty messy, as you can't get your cake slice or knife all the way down at the edge of the pie. See my pictures, below for evidence! The upside is that it's really easy to store in the fridge, no transferral to a plate needed.

You can make this the day before you need it, if you keep it in the fridge, and it will then last a couple of days (if there's any left!). Banoffee Pie is not suitable for freezing.

Whole banoffee pie covered in crumbled chocolate flake


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