If you were wondering why I haven’t been posting, it was because I have been transitioning into a new job. That lame ass excuse that you probably won’t or shouldn’t care about aside, here is my latest recipe. When I was coming up with a fun dessert to serve in the summer, I thought back to a banana pudding recipe I made a year ago, using banana milk. With that same concept, I wanted to make a new dessert, this time, an icebox cake.

What makes an icebox cake are the layers of wafers and some sort of icing or frosting that the wafers soak up. It’s also similar to the Russian honey cake in this aspect. With banana pudding, it consists of nilla wafers soaked with custard or vanilla pudding, and layered with cream and fresh bananas. So why not combine the two and make an easy to serve banana pudding?

For my recipe, I am making misugaru wafers (I am baking them into large, six-inch disks), layered with banana milk custard, fresh bananas, and chantilly cream. This recipe will be enough to make either two eight-layered banana pudding cakes or one sixteen-layered cake, depending on how much of a fatass you choose to be. I won’t judge. Well, mostly because I probably won’t know which door you decide to open there.

For the misugaru wafer layers:
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg white
1 egg
1 stick unsalted butter; browned
1/3 cup misugaru powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups granulated sugar

In a bowl, combine together the baking powder, egg white, egg, and sugar. Whisk in the butter, then fold in the misugaru and flour. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Divide the dough into 16 portions, dust with flour, and roll out on a lined baking sheet to about 1/16th an inch, cutting them into even 6-inch diameter rounds. Bake each disk at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.

For the banana milk custard:
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 whole bananas
16 oz. banana milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon gelatin powder +  1 tablespoon cold water

Roast the bananas in a 350 degree oven for 4 minutes, or until the peel turns dark brown. Bloom gelatin and water. In a pot, bring bloomed gelatin, roasted bananas, and banana milk to a simmer. Puree until smooth, adding more banana milk if necessary. Temper into egg yolks, corn starch, and sugar and continue whipping over medium-high heat until the pudding is substantially thickened. Strain and chill.

Chantilly cream:
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip until stiff. Not really rocket science here.

For garnish:
4 fresh bananas

To assemble:
Spoon 3 tablespoons of custard onto one round, then press on the next. On the second round, add on whipped cream and bananas. Continue alternating between the two, and then refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.