Recipe: Andrea Nguyen’s Banana-Coconut Bread-Pudding Cake - Santa Cruz Sentinel

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This clever recipe from Andrea Nguyen’s “Vietnamese Food Any Day: Simple Recipes for True, Fresh Flavors” (Ten Speed Press, $25) transforms simple ingredients — overripe bananas and inexpensive bread — into a moist, fragrant treat.

Bananas too firm? Try Nguyen’s trick: Use a fork to poke four or five sets of holes in each one. Microwave in 30-second blasts, until barely soft. Cool to let the flesh further soften and sweeten before prepping.

Andrea Nguyen’s Banana-Coconut Bread-Pudding Cake

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

1½ pounds overripe bananas

¼ cup dark rum

About ½ cup sugar, divided use

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

13½-ounce can full-fat unsweetened coconut milk, such as Chaokoh

2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

Generous 8 ounces white or wheat sandwich bread or supermarket French baguette,cut or torn into 1-inch pieces, crust intact

Directions:

Peel and thinly slice the bananas, reserving 3 to 4 inches of one to decorate the top of the cake (choose the least blemished section!). In a medium bowl, combine the remaining bananas with the rum and 1½ tablespoons sugar and stir gently to mix. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine 1/3 cup sugar, the salt, coconut milk, coconut oil and vanilla. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring or whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes to melt the oil and dissolve the sugar.

In a large bowl, beat the egg, then whisk in the coconut milk mixture. Add the bread and stir to combine well. Set aside for 20 minutes to soften.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 9-inch round cake pan with 2-inch sides, and line the bottom with parchment paper. (Or use an 8-inch square pan.)

When the bread is done soaking, use a potato masher to break up the chunks and create a thick, oatmeal-like mixture. Add the banana and its fragrant liquid and stir and fold to combine well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and shimmy the pan to level the top. Decorate with the reserved banana slices and sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar all over the top.

Bake for 1¼ to 1½ hours, until puffed up and richly browned. The top should feel dry to the touch and a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center should come out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 1 hour (expect quick deflation), then run a blunt knife around the pan edge and unmold onto the rack. Remove the paper and reinvert onto a plate to showcase the attractive decorated side.Enjoy the cake warm or let cool completely, to firm up, and eat at room temperature.

— From Andrea Nguyen’s “Vietnamese Food Any Day: Simple Recipes for True, Fresh Flavors” (Ten Speed Press, 2019)