Going Bananas
Going Bananas
If you stop by our Central Bakery in Shoreview, you'd think we'd gone bananas. Bananas are everywhere, and customers can't seem to get enough! Two banana-themed desserts are climbing the best-seller charts – and crazy fast!
The secret? Those bananas. They're real, like everything else in these fan favorites. There's real butter in that icing. That's real whipped cream. And yes, they're all hand-made – from scratch – every day. Our bakers and pastry professionals insist on it, in part because these are their recipes, the ones they make at home. They're not about to skimp or shortchange at work! The final products taste just like their delicious originals – amazing.
Banana Penuche Cake
For Kristine Schaak, Central Bakery Manager and head of development for bakery recipes at Kowalski's, bringing her recipe for Banana Cake with Penuche Icing to market was the only way to satisfy Culinary & Branding Director Rachael Perron.
"She brought the cake to a party at my house, and I hounded her for a year about making one for the store," says Rachael. "I never stopped begging her to do it!"
Now quickly becoming a cult favorite, this extremely moist banana cake is made with real bananas (of course) and iced with a traditional penuche (pronounced pa-new-chee), a decadent old-fashioned frosting made with brown sugar and 100% butter – not margarine, not oil, but butter.
Banana Cream Tart
In addition to this fresh banana cake, which is part of Kowalski's Kitchen Counter Cake Collection, Kristine also developed a Banana Cream Tart, available in the pastry and cake cases. It's a completely scratch-made tart. The pastry cream is made by hand, and the whipped cream is, too. It took a while to figure it out, but the end result was worth the wait. The crust has just a hint of salt in it to really highlight the other flavors, and the whipped cream isn't cloyingly sweet. It's a balanced work of pastry perfection.
Special orders for a full Banana Cream Pie (with traditional crust) are welcome! Just ask in advance at your local Kowalski's in the Bakery Department.
Also look for:
Coconut Cream Tart
It's the same delicious graham crust as the banana cream tart, this time filled with a giant cloud of real handmade coconut cream. Special orders for full-size pies are available in this flavor, too.
Selection and availability of products vary by market.
