Banoffee Alaska by Jamie Oliver

Banoffee with dulce de leche and banana is one of our favourite gooey pies. Mix it with a baked Alaska (cake, ice cream and a toasted layer of meringue) and you have a spectacular dessert. Jamie Oliver has done it for you in his festive Christmas cookbook.

Jamie on this sweet showstopper: “The idea was to combine two of my favourite desserts – banoffee pie and baked Alaska – resulting in this cold vanilla ice cream in a wonderfully warm pie. Believe me, it’s a match made in heaven!”

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 °C/gas mark 4 and grease a deep 25 cm springform tin. Grate the orange zest into the bowl of a food processor, add the cold butter, flour, ground almonds and 1 egg, mix everything until the dough forms a ball, wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roll out the dough on a floured work surface to a thickness of just under ½ cm, loosely wrap it around your rolling pin, unroll it over the springform tin and gently press it into the tin.

Trim the edges, seal any cracks, prick holes in the dough with a fork and place the base in the fridge for 30 minutes (keep the leftover dough for later). When ready, line the pastry base with sturdy heatproof cling film (non-PVC), fill it with rice and press the grains firmly against the edge. Blind-bake it for 15 minutes, remove the cling film and rice, return it to the oven for 5 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown, and leave to cool. Let your ice cream soften in the fridge.

Spread the dulce de leche or caramel sauce over the cooled pastry base, spoon the ice cream on top and place the pie in the freezer until the ice cream is frozen solid – up to this point, you can also prepare it a day in advance. Increase the oven temperature to 220 °C/gas mark 7 and separate the remaining 5 eggs for the meringue (save the yolks for another time). Whisk the egg whites in a stand mixer with a pinch of salt until stiff. Put the sugar and 80 ml water in a pan over high heat, heat the syrup to 110 °C (check with a sugar thermometer) and turn the heat down low.

Let the temperature rise very slowly to 120 °C, remove the pan from the heat, leave the syrup to stand for 30 seconds and then pour it very gradually into the egg whites in the mixer while the motor is running slowly. Continue whisking for 10 minutes until the mixture has cooled and thickened. Meanwhile, peel and slice the bananas, grate the lime zest over them, add the squeezed lime juice and toss them together well.

Remove your pie base from the freezer, place the banana slices on the ice cream and spoon the meringue on top in beautiful pointed dollops. Marble the meringue with drops of coffee syrup using a fork and place the pie in the oven for 4 minutes, or until the meringue is lightly golden brown but the ice cream is still frozen solid. Remove the pie from the tin and place it on the table.

Image: © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited, 2016

Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook
Jamie Oliver
€29,99
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