thoughtoverflow

Passport & Plate - chock-banana-cake

Russian Federation | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 2 photos

Ingredients
Recipe_what

Base:
- biscuits 150-200 g
- ubsalted butter 50 g

Cake:
- fresh cream 300 g
- milk 100 ml
- chocolate 100 g
- gelatin 15 g
- banana 1-2
- sugar 2 table spoons

 

How to prepare this recipe
Recipe_how

1. Crumble up the biscuits and mix it with melted butter -> lay a form with baking paper -> make a solid basis -> keep it in a fridge for 15-20 min.
2. Soak gelatin in 4 table spoons of warm water.
3. Mix fresh cream with sugar (I often forget about sugar – even better).
4. Make a hot chocolate: in a water bath gradually melt milk and chocolate. Don’t let it boil. Add some cardamom powder if you like it.
5. In a water bath completely dissolve gelatin in water.
6. Mix hot chocolate, fresh cream and gelatin.
7. Slice bananas -> put it on basis -> pour everything from step above also to basis.
8. Keep the cake in fridge for 4-5 hours or over night.
9. Decorate cake with chocolate flakes or as you like.
10. Just enjoy!

Time: approximately 30 mins (+ 4-5 hours).

 

The story behind this recipe
It was rainy evening when this recipe found me. At this time I lived in Saint Petersburg in a small room. My brother and I often indulged in pastries but at this time he was living in another city and I had no cooking facilities in my room. This recipe won me over with its simplicity and ease of execution but it does not mean that it was just another ordinary homemade cake.

This chocolate-banana cake was born again and again in different parts of the Earth: in the rainy and gloomy Saint Petersburg, in the cold and snowy Siberia, in the hot and amazing India, and now in foggy England but with thoughts about sunny Italy. Wherever this cake was created there were always many different people around the table - people of different faiths, skin colors, professions, nationalities and hobbies. And always it was a celebration of life.

Most of all I remember one of those cake-moments in India. We were 15 people from different countries and it was the birthday of my mom. Though she was in Siberia at this day and we are all in India, this was not an obstacle for the celebration. After months of eating very spicy Indian food this cake was like a gift to our gentle stomachs. It felt like not just my mom’s birthday but all our birthdays. We were happy as never before to experience this gentle taste and to feel how it blends different flavors. Some thought it was a cheesecake and wondered where I found all the necessary ingredients, others didn’t think and just enjoyed the moment. But undoubtedly what we all experienced that day I can call a ‘gastronomic orgasm’ as chocolate met banana.

A few of my friends asked me to share the recipe. I could always say that it is an ancient family recipe and that I have to keep it a secret but I do not. Once this recipe found me and then gave me a lot of new friends and opportunities. Even now I’m sharing it with you because one day when we meet in Italy we will become friends. That’s for sure.