Baked Banana Oven Pancake Squares
A dense, custardy oven-baked banana pancake you cut into squares. Ripe banana keeps it moist and sweet, and the oven does all the work, no stovetop needed.
- Total
- 66 min
- Prep 12 · Cook 44 · Rest 10
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Whisking · Folding
- Sweet
- Oven
Instructions
-
Set the oven to 190°C and place the rack in the middle. Line a 23 cm square baking dish with parchment paper.
~10 min
-
Put 50 g butter in a small oven-safe bowl and slide it into the heating oven until fully melted, about 5 minutes. Take it out and set it aside to cool slightly.
~5 min
Melting butter in the hot oven saves a pan and lets you add warm liquid fat that blends smoothly into the batter.
-
Peel 3 bananas and mash them in a mixing bowl with a fork until smooth, with only a few small lumps left.
~4 min
Mashing ripe bananas releases their natural sugars and moisture, which is what keeps the bake sweet and custardy without extra liquid.
Very ripe bananas with brown spots mash sweeter and give a softer, more custardy crumb, so use the ripest ones you have.
-
Whisk 4 eggs, 60 g sugar and 0.25 tsp salt into the mashed bananas until evenly combined. Whisk in the cooled melted butter, then 150 ml water.
~3 min
Whisking the eggs and sugar into the banana first disperses them evenly before flour is added, preventing lumps and overmixing later.
Whisking Whisk in a steady circular motion to break up eggs and sugar evenly; stop as soon as the mixture is uniform, since over-whisking here is not the risk but uneven streaks are.
-
Add 150 g flour and fold with the whisk just until no dry streaks remain. The batter should be thick and pourable, like a heavy pancake batter.
~2 min
Folding just until the dry streaks disappear limits gluten development, keeping the pancake tender rather than tough and rubbery.
Folding Use a gentle lifting and turning motion with the whisk, stopping the moment no dry flour remains; mixing past that point develops gluten and makes the squares tough.
-
Pour the batter into the lined dish and spread it level. Bake until the top is set, lightly golden and a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean, 28 to 32 minutes.
~32 min
The centre of a thick batter sets last, so a clean knife is the only reliable sign the eggs are fully cooked through.
If the centre still looks wet at 30 minutes, bake 3 to 5 minutes more; the middle sets last and a clean knife is the real test.
-
Lift the slab onto a wire rack and let it cool for 10 minutes. Cut into 8 squares and finish each with a crack of black pepper.
~10 min