The banoffee pie is believed to have been created by Ian Dowding and Nigel Mackenzie in 1972. Mackenzie owned a restaurant in East Sussex, England called The Hungry Monk and Dowding was the chef. Dowding apparently came up with the idea after seeing an American dish called “Blum’s Coffee Toffee Pie,” which consisted of soft toffee covered in coffee-flavored cream. However, according to Dowding, this recipe rarely worked: it didn’t set properly, or it dried “like concrete.”

Together they adapted the idea to toffee and bananas and invented the word “banoffi”, which has now become “banoffee” and is now part of the English language used to describe anything that tastes like banana and toffee. So they added the new Banoffee Pie to their menu and found that it became so popular that diners would actually request table reservations only if this particular dessert was on the menu. In fact, it became so popular that they just couldn’t take it off the menu.

After a couple of years or so, Dowding says other local restaurants started adding it to their menu, and then they started hearing rumors of the dessert being sold in restaurants in Australia and the United States. It also became very popular in India in the late 1970s, probably due to young backpackers cheering the locals on with this dish.

Over the years, the banoffee pie became more and more popular and is now served all over the world.

Below is a fantastic recipe to make your own

Ingredients

3 large bananas

300 g biscuits (digestive biscuits are fine)

60g butter

Double cream 350ml

1 tablespoon icing sugar

100g of dark chocolate (to decorate)

397g can of candy

1. Melt the butter in a skillet. While the butter is melting, crush the oatmeal cookies (using a blender would be perfect, otherwise a plastic bag and rolling pin would do the job just fine). Preheat the oven to 180C or point 4 gas. In a bowl, mix the crushed biscuits with the butter.

2. Transfer the biscuit and butter mixture to a flat 20-25cm round pan and press into an even layer.

3. Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Check that the mixture is slightly toasted, if not, give it a couple more minutes. Once cool, carefully transfer the base to a plate.

4. Once the base is cold, pour the caramel evenly and place in the fridge for approximately 1 hour.

5. Once cold, cut the bananas and place them on the caramel.

6. Put the chocolate in the microwave to melt, and while it melts, mount the cream with the icing sugar until it thickens and spread over the bananas.

7. Finally, carefully pour the decorating chocolate over the dessert and serve.