Banana Cake With Savory Coconut Sauce

August 3, 2008

I wish I could have shared this dessert with you. If you are lucky enough to be in Seattle, then head over to Monsoon for your own taste. Their menu changes daily, so if it's not listed, then beg - literally, get on your hands and knees and beg - them to make it for you. And if you have to muster up the alligator tears, then do so. It's worth it, my friend. This dessert tastes as good as you feel when someone tells you your new jeans make you look skinny. Pretty-Darn-Good.

The banana cake is so moist and chunky it's almost bread pudding. To balance the sweetness they brilliantly serve it on top of a savory coconut cream, creating the perfect salty-sweet treat.

My belly thanked me, my thighs aren't speaking to me.

Below is my best attempt at recreating this fantastic dessert.

Banana Cake

1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/8 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 275°. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan. In a small bowl, mash banana and add the lemon juice; set aside. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. One at a time, beat in the eggs, then add the vanilla. Alternating between the two, beat in the flour mixture and the buttermilk. Stir in the banana mixture. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake in a preheated oven for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Savory Coconut Sauce
The sauce at Monsoon was slightly thick and salty, not sweet. Simmer the ingredients below over medium high heat until sauce begins to thicken.

1 14 ounce can of coconut milk
1 cup of heavy cream
2-3 pinches of salt

Monsoon on Urbanspoon

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Comments

Ken's picture

"This dessert tastes as good as you feel when someone tells you your new jeans make you look skinny." Too bad these pleasures are at direct odds with each other! ;)

Speaking of which, I recently had to get real with the fact that my 42 year old metabolism was not keeping up with my love of sweets. So, I now limit myself to 5 desserts/sweets per month. It is working like crazy! In two weeks, my pants are lose in the waist. The cool thing is that I still get to enjoy sweets -- just less often. I've noticed not only appreciating these treats more, but also finding fruits and carrots tasting so much better and sweeter. Good all around!

I know this isn't necessarily a nutrition blog, but hey, you brought it up. ;)

This dessert looks awesome and would definitely qualify as one of my five sweet pleasures for the month. Thanks for the great post!

Ken's picture

Whoops, make that "loose" in the waist.

Hey, can I edit my comments?