May is definitely a month with the most days off. If planned carefully, and if the weather plays along, you can feel like you hit the jackpot. One of the good things about my company is the fact that we have new fruits delivered every week. But with so many days off, and people taking holidays, some of the fruits are just left over. And so at one point we had a bunch of bananas left. They didn’t look so fresh anymore, but I had one cake in mind where I could use them. Of course I took far more bananas than required for the recipe, and so we spent that evening eating some of them raw and making milk shakes.

The cake itself turned out beautifully, and there was not much left after I took it with me to work. But as much as I liked the cake, I don’t think I’ll do it anytime soon. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but after so many bananas that day, I think I reached my banana limit for a while.

Preparation time: 30min                                                              Baking time: 30min

ca.300g Cherries (I used frozen)

250g soft butter

100g sugar

1 pack of vanilla sugar

4 eggs

2-3 bananas

200g flour

200g ground hazelnuts

1 pack of baking powder

For the layer

2 packs of vanilla puddind powder

800ml milk

100g sugar

200g banana chips (or fresh bananas)

100g butter

150g whipped cream

100g ground hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (circulating air 160ºC) Take the cherries out of the freezer and place in a sieve. Peel the bananas and mash them with a fork. Stir the soft butter with sugar and vanilla sugar until frothy, adding eggs, one at a time. Add the banana mash and stir until smooth.

Sift the four to a bowl and mix it with hazelnuts and baking powder. Slowly add it to the butter and egg mix.

Spread the baking sheet on the baking form, and distribute the dough evenly. Distribute the cherries on the dough and press lightly. Bake the cake for 30min.

When the cake is ready, set it aside and let it cool a bit. In the meantime mix the pudding powder with 100ml of milk and 50g sugar. Heat up the remaining milk and add the stirred pudding. Stir constantly, until thick, then let it boil briefly. Set aside for a few minutes, then pour it over the cake.

In a small pot, melt the butter and the remaining 50g of sugar. Add the whipped cream and let it boil briefly. Turn off the heat. Add the hazelnuts and the banana chips (or fresh bananas). Distribute the mixture on the pudding and let it cool down for ca. 10min. Cut into pieces and serve.