Tweedy’s banoffee pie with salted caramel

A diet destroyer, rather addictive, very unhealthy and messy enough to be a perfect weapon for a clown, this is another nostalgic classic with a twist: a touch of salt in the caramel and some light meringue make all the difference.

PREPARATION TIME 35 minutes, plus cooling and chillling COOKING TIME about 3 hours 10 minutes

SERVES 10

2-3 bananas, sliced 50g dark chocolate, grated FOR THE CARAMEL

400g tin of sweetened condensed milk

100g unsalted butter 1tsp sea salt

50g caster sugar

FOR THE BASE

250g digestive biscuits 75g unsalted butter, melted FOR THE CREAM TOPPING 100g mascarpone 150ml double cream FOR THE MERINGUE

2 egg whites

120g caster sugar

1 Put the tin of condensed milk into a saucepan of boiling water and simmer for 2-3hr, keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t boil dry. The tin

MUST be completely immersed in water at all times. After 2-3hr, remove from heat and leave to cool before opening – the milk should have become a thick caramel in the tin.

2 For the base, blitz the biscuits in a food processor, then mix in the melted butter until they resemble damp breadcrumbs. Spread out evenly in a 20cm springform cake tin, pressing down with the end of a rolling pin to flatten. Chill until needed.

3 Pour the cooled caramel from the tin into a heavy-based saucepan. Add the butter, salt and sugar, then bring to the boil and continue to stir until it has loosened to a sauce consistency. Allow to cool slightly, then spread over the biscuit base as evenly as possible before returning the pie to the fridge to chill for at least 1hr.

4 For the cream topping, whip the mascarpone with the cream until soft peaks form. Spread half of it (saving some for piping on top) over the cooled caramel and neatly lay the banana slices on top. Scrape the rest of the cream topping into a piping bag.

5 For the meringue, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then slowly start sprinkling in the caster sugar, whisking constantly until stiff peaks appear. Scrape the meringue into another piping bag.

6 Unclip the springform ring from around the pie and remove. Pipe rosettes of meringue in the centre of the pie and in a ring around the edge and blast with a blow torch until you get that wonderful golden colour and toasted marshmallow smell.

7 Pipe a ring of the whipped mascarpone cream between the 2 meringue circles, then grate over some dark chocolate to finish.