Anna Polyviou is a pastry chef known for creating wacky takes on desserts and creative cakes.

Today, she is cooking sticky date banana pudding.

It’s basically a cross between a banana bread and pudding baked into a loaf and then topped with mascarpone and grilled bananas.

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Recipe below:

Sticky Date & Banana Pudding

Salted Caramel Sauce, Whipped Vanilla Mascarpone Creme

PUDDING

190g Dates, seeds removed

250ml Water

1 tsp Bi-carb soda

85g Unsalted butter, softened

200g Brown Sugar

2 Banana very ripe medium bananas

2 Eggs

170g Self-Raising Flour

SALTED CARAMEL

160g Brown Sugar

85g Unsalted butter, chopped

225ml Cream

Pinch of sea salt flakes

MASCARPONE CRÈME

200g Mascarpone

200ml Thickened cream

50g Pure Icing Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla paste

Caramelised Banana

1 banana

Caster Sugar, to sprinkle

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 155°C fan forced. Grease a 14cm x 21cm loaf tin or 20cm round ring, line base and long sides with baking paper.
2. Place the dates and water in a small saucepan over high heat. Once comes to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the bi-carb soda. Set aside to cool completely, then drain.
3. Using an electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the bananas and beat until combined. In alternating batches, add the eggs and self-raising flour and beat until combined, then fold through the chopped dates.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf or round tin. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
5. Meanwhile, make the salted caramel sauce. Place the brown sugar, butter and cream in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Add sea salt at the end
6. For the mascarpone crème, combine all ingredients and whisk to soft peaks. Place crème in a piping bag fitted with a St Honore nozzle. Pipe the mascarpone on the pudding.
7. To prepare banana, halve banana lengthways and sprinkle with caster sugar. Using a kitchen blowtorch, toast the sugar until caramelised (alternatively, caramelise the banana and sugar in a frypan).
8. Place caramelised banana on top of the crème and drizzle over the warm salted caramel sauce.