Banana Halwa Cake

This recipe is my own creation. But I was kind of inspired by chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s Banana Halwa recipe. The name itself made me imagine a yummy taste, but when I read the recipe it made me feel heavy. It is no doubt a delicious recipe made with rich ingredients (like khoya, ghee, cashew nuts, sugar etc), but I wanted to make it light and less sweet, so I could cater to my kids’ taste. I thought the natural sweetness of the bananas combined with the condensed milk will be good enough. To give it some texture I used edible gum and instead of cashew nuts I used almonds. I couldn’t imagine how it would turn out but at the end, nothing went wrong as everything pulled together and the banana halwa cake evolved on its own. Everybody loved it!

Ingredients:
4 ripe bananas
1 can condensed milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 tbs edible gum
1/2 cup almonds
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the icing:
1/4 cup vanilla cream
Blue poppy seeds & almonds for garnish

Instructions:
1. Mash the bananas with a fork and set aside. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a non-stick sauce pan on medium heat. Fry the edible gum in the butter till it swells. Drain, remove and set aside. Next add the almonds to the sauce pan and fry them lightly in the left over butter. Remove. Now add the remaining butter to the sauce pan and roast the white flour until it lets out an aroma and the raw smell is gone.

2. Finely grind the fried edible gum and the almonds together.

3. Add them to the roasted flour in the pan and mix till well combined so there are no lumps. Fold in one can of condensed milk followed by mashed bananas and vanilla essence. Combine everything well. Cook this mixture on medium heat while stirring continuously till it starts leaving the sides.

4.Butter a cake pan, dust it with flour. Pour the cooked mixture in the cake pan and then bake in the preheated oven at 350ºF for 10 – 12 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

5. Remove and let it cool. Spread vanilla cream icing on top. Sprinkle some blue poppy seeds and chopped almonds. Cut
into desired shapes and enjoy with tea or coffee.