Like the original Banoffi pie, it’s made with bananas and caramelized condensed milk, but on top of this one is a baked cheesecake – combining the slight tartness of cheesecake with the rich sweetness of banoffi pie.

All For The Glorious Barack’s Birthday Bake Off Contest

The Food Tasters for Obama group from my.barackobama.com had the wonderful idea of organizing an event called the Barack’s Birthday Bake Off Contest, to celebrate Obama’s birthday on August 4th. This I just had to participate in. What a great way of getting attention for Barack Obama!
I came up with a berry-spangled blueberry cheesecake tart (with some added red gooseberries for Obamicans) – and this Banoffi cheesecake for good measure.

Banoffi for Obama!

Banoffi pie (that I made earlier) is a classic slice of heaven from the late Seventies – it’s rumoured that it was Mrs Thatcher’s favorite. So there you go – a clear link with a politician! Well… maybe not. But this baked version is about as good as it gets. I say we call it Banoffi for Obama.

Cookie crumbs and ready-made dulce de leche

Assembled as you would a cheesecake, this is quite easy to make. It has a cookie crumb base, is filled with caramelized condensed milk (or dulce de leche) and banana, and topped with a rich vanilla cream cheese mixture. This is baked. When cooled, it can be topped with whipped cream and merengue.

To the bottom

Prepare the tin with a bottom and sides of baking paper – this way you can remove the pie more easily later on.
Put the broken-up biscuits and sugar in a food processor and turn them into fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and mix well. Put the crumbs mixture in the tin and spread out over bottom and sides with the back of a spoon. Press into shape with your fingers.

Then fill it

All you have do now is spoon the caramelized condensed milk onto the base, slice the banana on top of the caramel, drizzle with some lemon juice, and put it in the fridge to firm up while you whip up the cheesecake filling.
Soften the cream cheese and vanilla in a bowl, then beat in the eggs. When the mixture has become soft and fluffy, add the sugar and beat some more.
Spoon the filling on top of the caramel-banana filling.

And Bake Off!

Set the baking tin on a baking sheet to prevent butter dripping out. Preheat the oven to a 180°C. Bake for about 45 minutes; the filling will set when cooled.
Lastly, whip up the cream with a bit of sugar and firming agent. Decorate with ready-made merengue swirls, or toasted almond slivers. Banoffi – I love it!