Banana Mousse Cake with Bananas Foster Sauce

The dish was created in 1951 by Paul Blangé at Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was named for Richard Foster, a friend of Owen Brennan who was then New Orleans Crime Commission chairman. It is still served at a number of restaurants in New Orleans and elsewhere. It is one of my all time favorite desserts

Makes seven (7) individual desserts.

  

Banana Cake

Ingredients
2 eggs
8 oz sugar
6 oz oil
1/8 oz baking powder
1/8 oz baking soda
1/8 oz ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
9 oz bread flour
14 oz banana puree
Method
Mix egg, sugar and oil together. Add Baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and flour. Add banana puree. Put some mix on a ½ sheet pan and bake for 18 minutes at 380 f. and the rest of the mix you can use for banana bread or banana muffins.

Banana Foster Sauce
Ingredients
6 oz brown sugar
2 oz butter
Pinch of salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
3 oz banana liqueur
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large bananas sliced
4 oz spiced rum

Method
Melt butter. Add sugar, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon. Add banana liqueur. Add banana and caramelize Add rum and cook for 3 minutes more. Use this for your sauce either cold or warm.

Banana Mousse

Ingredients
3 sheet gelatin
3 large banana
2 oz milk chocolate
Juice of 1 lemon
7 oz heavy cream
3 oz heavy cream


Method
Soak gelatin in gold water. Warm egg whites and sugar together. {Swiss Meringue.} Puree the banana with the lemon juice. Make a genache with the 2 oz of milk chocolate and 3 oz of heavy cream. Whip the 7 oz of heavy cream to soft peak. Mix the banana puree with the genache and fold it into the cream. Mix the meringue. Melt the gelatin and fold it into the meringue the fold it into the cream. Put into prepared molds, layered with 2 layers of banana cake. Freeze desserts so the can be unmolded.

How to assemble the dessert
Makes 7 individual desserts.

Start a few days before, take a few bananas and sliced them very thin. Dip them in lemon juice and then dry them on a paper towel. When dry, place them on a baking sheet and place in an oven for a day or 2. The dried bananas are used for the garnish and to be put around the dessert mold. We started by putting a strip of acetate plastic around the dessert mold and then we took some of the dried banana and lined them around the edge. We then took the banana bread and cut some cake circles to put inside the dessert, we used 1 piece for the bottom and 1 for the middle. After you put 1 piece of banana bread in the bottom of the mold, take some of the banana mousse and fill the dessert mold about 1/3 of the way up. Place another piece of banana bread on top, add more of the mousse and fill the rest of the mold leaving about a quarter inch from the top of the mold. Freeze the dessert until it is ready to be unmolded for the plate up.

To Plate
Place the dessert in the middle of the plate put some of your banana foster sauce around the dessert, place some of the dried bananas on top and around the dessert and add some chocolate sauce for a extra touch.

Bon Appetit!

Lou