🍌 Banana Puff
An avant-garde pastry that layers banana, sesame, caramel, and chocolate into a spectacular choux creation — refined, playful, and packed with texture.This dessert is a true showcase of advanced pastry technique. A light choux shell topped with crisp craquelin hides layers of banana compote, sesame praline, salted caramel, and a smooth banana chocolate chantilly. Topped with a glossy yellow glaze, a dark chocolate disc, a hidden banana-passion insert, and a signature Zumbaron shell — this is haute pâtisserie with character.
Ingredients
🍪 Craquelin Sablé
- 120 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 60 g granulated sugar
- 60 g brown sugar
- 140 g all-purpose flour
💨 Choux Pastry
- 95 g water
- 95 g whole milk
- 95 g unsalted butter
- 8 g invert sugar
- 4 g salt
- 108 g all-purpose flour
- 148 g whole eggs
🌰 Sesame Praline
- 240 g toasted sesame seeds
- 160 g granulated sugar
- 3 g sunflower lecithin
- 2 g ground Tahitian vanilla bean
- 4 g sesame oil
- 3 g salt
- Grapeseed oil as needed
🍌 Banana Compote
- 200 g diced ripe bananas
- 20 g unsalted butter
- 20 g malted milk powder
- 40 g granulated sugar
- 12 g rum
- 4 g vanilla paste
- 2 g salt
- 200 g banana purée
- 12 g passionfruit purée seedless
- 9 g Sosa Gelcrem Cold
🍯 Salted Butter Caramel
- 10 g Earl Grey tea
- 0.5 whole tonka bean
- 40 g banana purée
- 130 g heavy cream 35% fat
- 68 g water
- 38 g glucose syrup
- 175 g granulated sugar
- 35 g Valrhona Caramélia 36% chocolate
- 20 g gelatin mass 5:1 ratio
- 115 g unsalted butter
- 25 g 100% hazelnut paste
- 4 g sea salt
- 8 g vanilla paste
🍫 Banana Caramel Chocolate Chantilly
- 400 g heavy cream 35% fat
- 5 g Earl Grey tea
- 0.5 tonka bean
- 5 g black licorice soft logs
- 30 g malted milk powder
- 50 g banana purée
- 8 g gelatin mass 5:1 ratio
- 40 g Valrhona Dulcey 35% couverture
- 30 g milk chocolate 40%
- 2 g salt
- 3 g vanilla paste
🌕 Banana Passion Crème Insert
- 70 g banana purée
- 20 g passionfruit purée
- 6 g black licorice soft logs
- 76 g granulated sugar
- 8 g Sosa Gelcrem Hot
- 100 g whole eggs
- 100 g unsalted butter
🟡 Yellow Chocolate Coating
- 500 g white chocolate couverture
- 50 g deodorized coconut oil
- 50 g 100% hazelnut paste
- 3 g fat-soluble yellow coloring
- 2 g salt
🍫 Dark Chocolate Discs
- 350 g Valrhona Manjari 66% chocolate
- Flaky sea salt as needed
🥚 Zumbaron Shells
- 225 g almond flour
- 2 g salt
- 225 g powdered sugar
- 190 g egg whites divided
- 2 g cream of tartar
- 8 g Sosa Albuwhip
- 225 g granulated sugar
- 75 g water
- 6 g food coloring
Instructions
Craquelin Sablé
- Cream butter with sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add flour and mix until a dough forms.
- Roll between two sheets to 2 mm thick and chill.
- Cut into 6 cm discs and keep chilled until needed.
Choux Pastry
- In a saucepan, boil water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt.
- Add flour off heat and stir until a ball forms.
- Cook for 1 more minute, then transfer to a mixer.
- Mix to cool slightly, then slowly incorporate eggs until smooth and glossy.
- Pipe 6 cm rounds onto a bare iron tray.
- Top each with a craquelin disc.
- Bake at 165°C (330°F) convection or 190°C (375°F) deck oven until puffed and hollow.
- Cool completely.
Sesame Praline
- Blend all ingredients (except grapeseed oil) into a paste.
- Adjust with grapeseed oil if needed.
- Pipe into 2.5 cm half-sphere molds and freeze.
Banana Compote
- Dry-caramelize sugar, then add butter, milk powder, rum, vanilla, salt.
- Vacuum-seal with diced bananas. Chill overnight.
- Blend banana and passion purées with Gelcrem Cold.
- Fold in the chilled banana mixture.
Salted Butter Caramel
- Infuse tea and tonka in banana purée for 24 hrs. Strain.
- Heat cream + infused purée.
- Caramelize sugar, glucose, and water to dark amber.
- Deglaze with hot cream mixture and cook to 108°C.
- Off heat, add chocolate and gelatin mass. Cool to 45°C.
- Blend in butter, hazelnut paste, salt, and vanilla. Emulsify. Chill until set.
Banana Caramel Chocolate Chantilly
- Cold-infuse cream with tea and tonka for 24–48 hrs. Strain and reweigh.
- Heat with licorice, banana, and milk powder to 70°C.
- Add gelatin, pour over chocolates, emulsify.
- Blend in salt and vanilla. Chill overnight.
Banana Passion Crème Insert
- Cook all ingredients except butter to 85°C.
- Cool to 45°C, blend in butter.
- Pipe into 2.5 cm silicone sphere molds and freeze.
Yellow Chocolate Coating
- Melt all ingredients together. Use at 35°C (95°F).
- Dark Chocolate Discs
- Temper chocolate and spread to 1–2 mm thick.
- Cut 70 mm discs just before setting.
- Sandwich between baking trays to keep flat.
Zumbaron Shells
- Blitz almond flour, salt, and powdered sugar.
- Make Italian meringue: cook sugar + water to 121°C, pour into egg whites + Albuwhip + tartar.
- Whip until 50°C.
- Mix remaining egg whites and coloring into dry ingredients.
- Fold in meringue until batter flows slowly from spatula.
- Pipe 5 cm rounds. Rest until skin forms.
- Bake at 170°C (338°F), lowering to 150°C (302°F) immediately. Bake 12–15 min. Cool.
Assembly & Finishing
- Cut a 2.5 cm hole at the bottom of each choux bun.
- Dip craquelin side into Yellow Chocolate Coating. Sprinkle sesame seeds.
- Fix dipped buns (coated side down) onto 10x10 cm boards using more coating.
- Fill halfway with Banana Compote.
- Insert frozen Sesame Praline domes.
- Pipe Salted Butter Caramel to fill and chill to set.
- Whip Chantilly and pipe a dot on top. Place chocolate disc on top.
- Pipe spiral Chantilly rosette (2 layers high).
- Insert frozen Banana Passion Crème insert into top of Chantilly. Seal with more Chantilly.
Decorate sides with chopped hazelnuts.
- Finish with a Zumbaron shell on top.
- Refrigerate until service.
I’m Chef Mimo, a passionate pastry chef with over 17 years of experience in the world of fine desserts. I specialize in French-style entremets, refined cakes, and creative chocolate work. Pastry is not just my profession—it’s my lifelong passion. Through PastryCrafted.com, I love sharing my recipes, techniques, and inspirations with anyone who dreams of mastering the art of pastry. Whether you’re a curious beginner or a seasoned pro, you’re welcome in my sweet world.