The Origin Story Of The British Banoffee Pie Starts With A US Dessert

For many Americans, banoffee pie's cultural relevance starts and ends with Kiera Knightly offering a slice to Andrew Lincoln in the 2003 film "Love Actually." So, if you reside in the States and have never had a taste of this banana and toffee treat or even seen it on a menu, you'll be surprised to learn that, unlike British pudding, the origins of this very English dessert can be traced back to a popular San Francisco confectionery called Blum's.

Simon and Clemence Blum opened their first candy and baked goods shop in 1892 and business quickly boomed. Although they sold a wide array of goods, from handcrafted candy to sandwiches, their coffee crunch cake became the star attraction. With rich, coffee-flavored frosting sandwiched between layers of airy sponge cake and dotted with pieces of broken candy, it's no surprise the light and crunchy cake became a favorite for big celebrations and quick snacks alike.

Although Blum's triumphantly survived the Depression era (along with water pie) and the sugar-rationing of World War II, the business began to decline, and by the middle of the 1970s, there were no Blum's left. (Luckily, the recipe for Blum's coffee crunch cake survived and you can still make at home today.) Even better for the Brits, before shutting down, one of the confectionary's baked goods — coffee toffee pie — made a major impact on a visiting British chef.

English chef Ian Dowding's colleague had fortunately ventured to San Francisco and sampled some of Blum's confections before they were gone. As he wrote in The Guardian, "Russell had his secret recipes, one of which was a dessert he had brought back from America called Blum's coffee toffee pie. However, it was no secret that it rarely worked." Dowding explained that the toffee, which is different than caramel, would rarely set correctly, making the pie more hassle than it was worth.

In 1971, however, when Chef Ian Dowding started a new gig as the head chef of the Hungry Monk in Sussex, England, inspiration struck. After chatting with his sister about how boiling a can of unopened condensed milk in water for several hours would create a softer, easier-to-manage toffee, Dowding decided to try the coffee toffee pie again.

As the chef explained in The Guardian, he and Hungry Monk owner Nigel Mackenzie didn't stop there, "We tried some variations — apple was quite good, mandarin was downright disgusting — but the day we made it with a layer of bananas, I knew I had cracked it." Although Blum's gets credit for the inspiration and Dowding's sister for the toffee-setting problem-solving, it was Mackenzie who came up with the name, a portmanteau of the key ingredients. So, the next time you turn on "Love Actually," remember banoffee pie's pond-jumping legacy and perhaps try a slice yourself.