Gordon Ramsay’s banoffee pie layers a buttery pecan and digestive base with thick condensed-milk toffee, ripe bananas and softly whipped cream. I make the toffee his slow way so it sets firm enough to slice cleanly. Start to finish it wants a few hours, but almost all of that is hands-off.
I built this from Ramsay’s own dessert methods rather than guessing at one. The toffee is his condensed-milk caramel from Ultimate Home Cooking, where he simmers a whole tin for hours until it thickens and darkens. And the banana, toffee and pecan trio comes from his steamed pudding, the one he calls “the ultimate comfort pudding.”
The toffee is what makes or breaks a banoffee, which is why I won’t rush it. Heating condensed milk slowly lets the sugars caramelise and drive off water, so it sets thick instead of staying runny. A quick stovetop caramel slides straight off the base, and that’s why most homemade ones collapse.
Gordon Ramsay Banoffee Pie
Course: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy8
servings30
minutes4
hours480
kcalBuilt from Gordon Ramsay’s condensed-milk caramel and biscuit-base methods, this banoffee stacks a pecan-flecked digestive crust, thick homemade toffee, ripe bananas and whipped cream. The banana, toffee and pecan idea is lifted from his steamed pudding. Best eaten the day it’s made.
Ingredients
- For the base:
250g digestive biscuits (graham crackers in the US)
50g pecans, toasted and chopped
100g unsalted butter, melted
- For the toffee:
1 x 397g tin condensed milk (or a 397g tin of dulce de leche to skip the boiling)
- For the topping:
3 ripe bananas
A squeeze of lemon
300ml double cream (heavy cream in the US)
1 tbsp icing sugar
Dark chocolate, to grate
Directions
- Make the toffee: Pierce a tin of condensed milk twice and sit it in a pan of gently simmering water for 3 to 4 hours, topping up the water so the tin stays covered. Cool fully before opening, or use a tin of dulce de leche.
- Build the base: Blitz the digestives to fine crumbs, stir through the toasted pecans, then mix in the melted butter until it looks like wet sand. Press firmly into a 23cm tin and chill for 20 minutes.
- Layer the filling: Spread the cooled toffee over the set base. Slice the bananas, toss them in a little lemon, and lay them over the top.
- Finish: Whip the cream with the icing sugar to soft peaks, spoon it over, and grate dark chocolate on top. Chill for 30 minutes and serve the same day.
FAQs
Why does the toffee take three to four hours?
Because that slow simmer is doing real work. The heat breaks down the milk sugars and drives off water, so the caramel turns deep golden and thick rather than thin and pale.
Rush it and you get a pouring sauce, not a sliceable filling. It’s mostly hands-off though, so I set the tin going before anything else, the same slow caramel that colours his apple tarte tatin.
Why did my biscuit base fall apart?
Usually it’s too little butter or not enough chilling. I use Ramsay’s cheesecake ratio, about three parts crushed biscuit to one part melted butter, so the crumbs bind without going greasy.
Press it down firmly and give it twenty minutes in the fridge before the toffee goes on. Chop the pecans small too, or the bigger pieces break the base up when you slice.
Is it safe to boil a tin of condensed milk?
Yes, as long as the tin stays under water the whole time. Ramsay’s method sits the unopened tin in simmering water for three to four hours, and the only real risk is letting the pan boil dry, so I top the water up every half hour.
If you’d rather not, a tin of dulce de leche needs no cooking at all. It sets a touch softer than the boiled version, so give the finished pie a bit longer in the fridge.
How do I stop the bananas turning brown?
Slice them last, right before the cream goes on, and toss them in a little lemon to slow the browning. Layer them hours ahead and they’ll go grey under the cream.
If you’ve a few overripe ones spare, they’re made for his easy banana bread, or caramelised in his banana tarte tatin.
Does banoffee pie keep well?
Not really, so I make it the day I’m serving. The bananas brown and the base softens once the toffee and cream sit on it, so even covered in the fridge it’s past its best after a day.
For a pudding you can build the day before, a make-ahead tiramisu holds far better.
