Bananas foster crepe cake

What's your favourite meal of the day? For me it's dinner as I associate it with fancy dinners, indulgent meals and a satisfying end to the day (food wise). Breakfast is usually cereal or fruit and lunch a quick grab and go affair. However, when I'm on holidays, breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. I love breakfast type foods such as bacon, eggs, pancakes which is why when I went to America I totally over indulged in breakfast!! Now I can have 'Breakfast for Dinner' which is the title of a new book by Lindsay Landis & Taylor Hackbarth. They are a husband and wife team who blog on Love & Olive Oil. 

It's a nice hardback book with a total of 159 pages including the index. There's a quote at the beginning of the book which I absolutely love. "Everyone runs around trying to find a place where they still serve breakfast because eating breakfast, even if it's 5 o'clock in the afternoon, is a sign that the day has just begun and good things can still happen" - Jonathan Goldstein. 

The book is divided into the following chapters. I've included a selection of recipes from each section but there are a lot more in the book! 

Introduction 

Getting Started - a list of common ingredients including photos and a brief note

Main Dishes - steaks & eggs benedict, italian-style stuffed french toast, egg & chorizo burritos, frittata florentine, bacon fried rice, goat cheese monte cristos, polenta cakes with shitake mushrooms, cornmeal pancakes with beer-braised short ribs, breakfast sausage ravioli 

Sides & Starters - maple-glazed pork meatballs, parmesan beignets, bcaon jam, espresso baked beans, moroccan chicken cinnamon rolls, scrambled egg & salmon quesadillas

Drinks & Desserts - maple bacon cupcakes, mocha ice cream pie with biscotti crust, lemon poppy seed thumbprints, bacon old-fashioneds, bananas foster crepe  cake, chocolate brownie waffles with blackberry sauce, strawberry & basil shortcakes, doughnut fudge sundaes, mint chocolate chip pancakes

Acknowledgements

Metric Conversion Chart

Index 

The book is well presented with an accompanying photo for each recipe. Each recipe page gives you a brief introduction plus basic detail like how many servings it makes, active time and total time. The ingredients list are on the left and the instructions on the right. I particularly like the step by step photo pages which are available for certain techniques such as 'how to make ravioli', 'how to freeze homemade pizza', 'crepes made easy' 

I chose to make the bananas foster crepe cake as it looked impressive and I'm sure you know how much I love bananas! It was time consuming to make and it does state in the recipe that total active time is 24 hours but it was well worth it. I served it at my afternoon tea and it was one of the favourites of the day. It was like eating a giant banana pancake with caramel sauce. 

My verdict - It's a great recipe book which contain twists on classic recipes plus some new, inventive recipes.  The main plus points for me are that there is an accompanying photo for each recipe which is beautifully photographed and presented. As mentioned, I also like the step by step photos.  It's an American book so the units are in cups but there is a helpful conversion chart at the back. Some of the recipes are a little on the adventurous side but I'd give credit for creativity. There's also a lot of bacon recipes which is great for me but perhaps not so much for the vegetarians! Personally, I think it's a great book to have in your collection especially when you want to make something a little different or when you have guests over.

 crepe making station 

 caramel for the bananas  

 cook bananas until soft and brown 

 making the filling 

 first crepe

 add filling to each layer 

 finish with a crepe on top 

 add caramelized bananas on top and serve 

 it held it's shape really well and you can clearly see the layers 

Recipe reproduced with permission from the publisher 

Simple sweet crepes

1.5 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole milk

4 eggs

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• Combine all ingredients in a blender. Mix on medium speed for 10-15 seconds or until mixture is smooth and uniform, with the consistency of heavy cream; if it's too thick or too thin, mix in a bit more milk or flour, respectively
• Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hours.
• Heat a 6 inch diameter non stick skillet over medium heat. Brush with melted butter. 
• Ladle 2-3 tablespoons of batter onto the center of the skillet; tilt pan to swirl batter evenly around pan and form a thin, uniform layer.
• Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until bottom is lightly golden brown. 
• With a large thin spatula, carefully flip the crepe and cook for another minute. 
• Transfer to a baking sheet to cool. 
• Repeat with remaining batter. 

For filling
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 bananas, peeled and sliced
1.5 teaspoons rum
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

About 20 6-inch crepes (recipe above)

For topping
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 banana, sliced on the diagonal
1 tablespoon rum

• For the filling, melt butter with 3 tablespoons of the brown sugar and cinnamon in a skillet over medium heat. 
• When butter is melted and sugar is dissolved, stir in banana slices. 
• Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until bananas are softened and beginning to brown.
• Stir in rum and cook or 1-2 minutes more.
• Let cool to lukewarm; mash with a fork or potato masher. 
• In a saucepan, whisk together the 1/3 cup brown sugar, cornstarch and salt. 
• Whisk in milk and cook over medium heat, continuing to whisk, until mixture begins to thicken and just starts to bubble, about 5-7 minutes.
• In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks.
• Slowly whisk in some of the warm milk mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, until about half of milk mixture has been incorporated and yolk mixture is warm to touch. 
• You want to to this gradually, so you temper the egg yolks rather than cook them. 
• Pour yolk mixture back into the saucepan and return to medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick, 2-3 minutes more. 
• Stir in mashed banana mixture and vanilla extract. 
• Press pudding through a fine mesh to remove any lumps; cover and refrigerate until completely cool, at least 1 hour.
• Place 1 crepe on a plate or serving dish.
• Spread a thin layer of the filling on top. 
• Top with another crepe. 
• Continue layering filling and crepes until you run out, ending with a crepe on top. 
• Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours but preferably overnight. 
• Just before serving, prepare topping: combine butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a skillet over medium heat.
• When butter is melted and sugar is dissolved add banana slices.
• Cook for 8-10 minute, or until bananas are softened and beginning to brown. 
• Add rum and cook for 1-2 minutes more.
• Add banana slices on top of cake;pour remaining caramel sauce over top. 

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of Breakfast for Dinner to review free of charge. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.