No-Bake Sour Cream and Banana Cake with Chocolate

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   To make a delicious no-bake banana cake, you'll need cookies — sweet crackers are best, but any shortbread, oatmeal, square baked-milk-flavored, or sugar cookie will do; the main thing is that it's light and crisp. Measure out the ingredients you need from the list.

2. Step 2:

   

   Dissolve the gelatin according to the package instructions. I dissolved mine in a cup of boiling water — I used 120 ml of boiling water for 25 g of instant gelatin. If yours isn't instant gelatin, read the package instructions for how to prepare it properly.

3. Step 3:

   

   While the gelatin soaks, break the cookies into small pieces.

4. Step 4:

   

   Wash the bananas, pat them dry with paper towels, peel them, and cut them into small pieces. Right away, prepare a springform pan (18–20 cm in diameter). Line it with plastic wrap so the cream doesn't leak.

5. Step 5:

   

   Combine the sour cream (20–30% fat) with the sugar (or sweetener, per the package), and add vanillin on the tip of a knife, or vanilla sugar (about 1 tablespoon). Go easy on the vanillin — overdo it and it turns bitter. Beat the sour cream mixture with a mixer for about 1 minute, until the sugar crystals dissolve. You can swap the sour cream for mascarpone; then the dessert will taste like tiramisu.

6. Step 6:

   

   Pour the dissolved gelatin into the sour cream mixture in a thin stream, without stopping the beating.

7. Step 7:

   

   Beat the sour cream and gelatin with the mixer for about another minute — no longer, since the mixture sets fast.

8. Step 8:

   

   Add the cookie and banana pieces to the sour cream cream and quickly mix with a spatula or spoon.

9. Step 9:

   

   Immediately transfer the mixture to the prepared cake pan.

10. Step 10:

    

    Smooth the surface with a silicone spatula or a spoon.

11. Step 11:

    

    Cover the pan with a flat plate or plastic wrap and put the cake in the refrigerator to set.

12. Step 12:

    

    The cake will set well in the fridge within an hour, but you can leave it overnight so it firms up even better.

13. Step 13:

    

    Take the set cake out of the fridge and carefully release it from the springform pan.

14. Step 14:

    

    Transfer the cake to a flat plate — it holds its shape beautifully.

15. Step 15:

    

    Peel the plastic wrap off the cake.

16. Step 16:

    

    For decoration, use good-quality chocolate with a high cocoa content — the flavor of the treat depends on it. Grate it on a fine grater. You can also decorate the dessert differently. For example, top it with walnuts that you've lightly toasted in a dry skillet and then chopped with a knife or in a blender. If you like, you can sprinkle it with cocoa powder, shredded coconut, cookie crumbs, or sprinkles.

17. Step 17:

    

    The finishing touch: sprinkle the cookie, sour cream, and banana cake with grated chocolate and serve with tea or coffee.

18. Step 18:

    

    Here's what the no-bake cake looks like sliced. The cookies turn soft and the cake slices perfectly without losing its shape.