🍌 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.