WHAT THE HECK IS BANOFFEE?
Banoffee Pie (Image Credit: Gersom Santos)
If you love bananas, you need to try Just Bannoffy’s Banoffee Pie. I am a sucker for all things banana; whether it’s a banana berry smoothie, banana bread or Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey. I remember having a Banoffee Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory in 2019 when I was in America and it was one of the most delicious desserts I’ve ever had, my mouth waters thinking about it.
So, you might be asking, what the heck is Banoffee? If you dissect the word, ‘ban’ is, of course, the banana, while the ‘offee’ derives from toffee. Put two and two together and you have yourself Banoffee. The pie has a delicious biscuit base, with a home-made toffee filling, layered with sliced bananas, and—wait for it— the topping is fresh whipped cream, garnished with shaved dark chocolate.
A few months ago, I received a text from an old friend saying she had some goodies to drop off for me to try. Unbeknownst to me, she had been working on perfecting one particular recipe for over a year - she had samples of her take on a Banoffee Pie. My eyes lit up as I took my first bite light and creamy, it was heaven in my mouth. I was filled with so much joy and excitement over this dessert.
Just Banoffy (Image Credit: Just Banoffy)
Immaree Pablo launched her side hustle ‘Just Banoffy’ in the month of June and since then, she has been consistently inundated with orders, selling out of each of her limited pie drops. There’s something special about Aussies and their love of bananas; from our 1990’s advertisement campaign for Australian bananas featuring the iconic banana song (make those bodies sing!) to the Big Banana itself, it’s clear that we love bananas, so naturally,we’re going absolutely bananas over this pie. Thankfully, Immaree had some time for an interview about her Banoffy venture:
What inspired you to start Just Banoffy?
“To be honest, I never saw it coming. I had come up with a name and thought it was just going to be a nice play on the word banoffee. I started my new job at Lilymu in Nov 2020 (mind you I work full-time in hospitality and I love my job) and brought a banoffee pie for our work Christmas lunch and everyone loved it. I was so nervous, but I generally love to cook and make desserts at home. The new year hit and I couldn’t stop thinking about the positive reaction I had received from my work family. I had only brought my banoffee pie to family gatherings but realised I had kept making it more and more. I had support and approval from my family and my work family to execute the whole thing. With that, my family helped me with ideas and opinions of what I needed to do to get where I am now.
What are some challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
It was financially challenging. It was quite hard for me because I was set back from working as a casual in hospitality when COVID hit last year and I couldn’t commit to starting a small business. I wasn’t mentally there and I struggled to take care of myself. I’ve always wanted to learn about the business side of things. It’s so exciting seeing small businesses start especially when we all reached a low from the pandemic.
Eventually, I got some help from my partner who is a sole trader and runs a small business himself. I also got help from one of my managers at work who just loved my whole concept of making this happen. I had my family and my work family become my taste testers whenever I needed more feedback. I am honestly so grateful for getting thrown in the deep end because I am (and know I am) bad at executing all my ideas. I am very detail oriented and thoroughly think about each and every person’s thought process. I think about preventing what could possibly happen, to not happen.
(Image Credit: Gersom Santos)
Why did you choose banoffee?
I first discovered banoffee pie from my old work mate. She is a great cook and definitely mentored me in aspects of what this hospitality career endures, all the do’s and don'ts. She brought banoffee pie for someone’s birthday as she is whole-hearted in making a dessert or even a savoury cake (if you’re lucky) for your birthday. I had never had banoffee pie and, wow, I was converted. I loved it so much I ordered a whole pie from her for my birthday a few years ago. It was the best ever! To this day, I would still love to enjoy a slice of her pie but distance makes it an issue. I live in Western Sydney and her home/restaurant is in Potts Point.
One day, last year I had spare bananas and thought “let’s make a banoffee pie”. So I did, and boy, did it look ugly. I hadn’t bought enough cream and my base was so thin!. Banoffee pie is pretty much the image of ugly delicious. The five different layers of: he biscuit base, homemade toffee, fresh sliced bananas, freshly whipped cream and dark shaved chocolate.
What do you enjoy most about cooking?
It’s therapeutic, for me. I love working in the kitchen in silence. I am definitely the worst slicer and chopper out there, because I’m not really patient, but I’m patient enough to cook some delicious freaking food. I just search up recipes that I’m craving and wallah, dinner is served. In the future, I would love a bigger kitchen with more storage. It’s where you’ll probably find me, but I do have days where I don’t feel like cooking at all.
(Image Credit: Gersom Santos)
(Image Credit: Gersom Santos)
What keeps you going?
Oh dear. This is a tricky one, and more emotional by all means. I would say to myself “it’s a rollercoaster ride, but I’m surviving”.
I take it day by day, or step by step. It does get overwhelming. I’ve learnt how to be independent from being a teen but it wouldn’t have happened if my dad hadn’t trusted me with all his heart and shaped me into who I am today.
Long story short, I lost my dad to his battle with cancer back in February of 2019. I can’t even believe the mindset I had when I was taking care of him through his last few months. When I think about it today, I couldn’t be more proud of myself. It definitely was not an easy road with my sisters. My dad was scared, but he did fight that battle until the end. He was a trooper, and I will honour his whole hearted love and share that with everyone for the rest of my life.
My support group is another to mention. My partner and I met a week after my dad passed away and, wow, was that a blessing in disguise. I am so grateful for him, my family, my friends and even my work families.
The experience of keeping myself going is always so special. At the end of the day, you have to make your own decisions. You have to pick yourself up. Although, the most important one is to take care of yourself.
Tell us about the year you spent perfecting the recipe?
When I had first made that banoffee pie, I did not see myself making it into a small business. My mum and one of my sisters are the chefs in the family so to impress them was a looooong shot. I brought my new and improved banoffee pie every time I saw them. Banoffee is underrated, I believe but my family loved it so much!
I did a lot of recipe research and started tweaking it to perfect it into my own. I trialled a lot of different products and my family were there to help me decide on the right products. With my background in hospitality, I have a high standard for using quality ingredients and, of course, also got some advice from the chefs I work with and appreciate so much!
I recorded videos and took a lot of pictures and I always found myself looking back at them. I also used to give my spares away to friends and they loved it! It’s so surreal to believe how far I have come. I wish I was better at video editing, but my attention span is so bad being in front of a screen.
From the first ugly one I made to the one I am now selling, I am so so happy with the final look, as I make all my pies with love. I call it imperfectly perfect.
(Image Credit: Gersom Santos)
