Layered Banana Cake with Green Tea ice cream

It might surprise you to learn that the concept of dessert, i.e. a sweet dish at the end of a meal, doesn’t really exist in the traditional Japanese lexicon. Therefore one of the most entertaining and challenging problems we face at Bincho is how to create new ideas for desserts that are not only tasty, but also keep the spirit of Japanese cuisine alive.

Layered Banana Cake with Green Tea Ice Cream is one of our most popular desserts, and we have tweaked an age-old classic and brought it kicking and screaming into the neon glow of 21st Century Tokyo. Unlike a traditional banana cake, we slowly layer the raw cake mix by gently browning it step-by-step under a hot salamander.

The process of layering adds an umami-like nuttiness and a more interesting mouthfeel, and also nods towards the Japanese eye for immaculate presentation and detail. It also takes fucking hours, but it’s most definitely worth it.