The Great British Baking Show: Millionaire's Banoffee Traybake Recipe

Thanks to Netflix I have been watching a lot of the The Great British Baking Show. There is so much I love about this show, but what mainly keeps me coming back for more is its wholesome, backstabbing-free goodness; that, and it’s like watching a baking show in a foreign yet un-foreign language. Cakes are “sponges”, “biscuits” are cookies, and "puddings" are cakes. It's a topsy-turvy world over there across the pond. 

In Season Two I learned that a “traybake” is British speak for what we would call a bar cookie. What I love about this genre of baked good is they are the fastest and easiest way to get tasty ingredients from the cupboard and into the oven. One recipe that especially grabbed my attention was quirky contestant Frances’ Millionaire’s Shortbread Banoffee Traybake.*

In the baking world, anything with “Millionaire” in its name is sure to be rich and decadent. Frances’ dessert does not stray from this tradition. In this concoction she is combing two desserts - a traditional Millionaire’s Traybake - shortbread, caramel and chocolate (so basically a Twix Bar?) and “Banoffee”, an English dessert of bananas, toffee and cream. The end result is a buttery shortbread foundation that supports layers of a banana-infused caramel dotted with crunchy dried bananas, topped with a lid of dark chocolate. While this dessert requires a few more steps than the traybake hallmark of “mix, pour, bake”, it is definitely worth the extra extra few steps.

Millionaire's Banoffee Traybake

*A few notes about this recipe...

1. If you hate bananas this recipe is obviously not for you. If you like bananas, but hate fake banana flavoring, this recipe is TOTALLY for you.
2. The recipe calls for an 8x13" pan, but I didn't have this size - I had one that was an inch larger, and one that was inch smaller. I opted for the smaller, and in hindsight, I should have gone with the larger. You'll see in the photo the "banoffee" layer is very thick. This, along with the thicker layer of chocolate, made the end result slightly harder to cut (there was a lot of banoffee squishing). Though the end result was still delicious, the final presentation was a bit disappointing. I definitely would not have won Star Baker with these bad boys.