Ingredients
Method
1.Make dulce de leche: Preheat oven to 220°C. Pour condensed milk into a 1.5-litre (6-cup) ceramic ovenproof dish. Cover dish tightly with foil; crush excess foil upwards. Place ceramic dish in a medium baking dish; add enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the ceramic dish. Bake for 1 hour.
2.Whisk mixture; cover, bake a further 30 minutes or until a golden caramel colour, adding extra boiling water to baking dish as needed to maintain water level during baking. Remove dish from water; cool. Whisk mixture until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl; cover, refrigerate until chilled.
3.Preheat oven to 120°C. Line two large oven trays with baking paper. Mark a 24cm round on each piece of paper; turn, marked-side down, on trays.
4.Beat egg whites, cream of tartar and sugars in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on high speed for 8 minutes or until thick and glossy and sugar is dissolved. Beat in cornflour, vinegar and extract on low speed. Divide mixture evenly between trays, spreading to cover just inside marked rounds and swirling meringue.
5.Bake meringues for 1 hour, or until dry to touch. Cool in oven with door ajar.
6.Place banana slices, in a single layer, on an oven tray; sprinkle with extra caster sugar. Using a blowtorch, caramelise sugar.
7.Whisk cooled dulce de leche in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form.
8.Place one meringue on a platter. Spread one-third of the cream on meringue. Drop spoonfuls of half the dulce de leche on cream. Repeat layering with remaining meringue, another one-third cream and remaining dulce de leche. Top dulce de leche with remaining cream, banana slices and honeycomb.
Dulce de leche is a caramel spread. If you prefer, you can use ready-made dulce de leche sold in jars from delis, gourmet food stores and supermarkets. Plain honeycomb is available from some sweet stores or greengrocers. If unavailable, use two 50g chocolate honeycomb bars and cut off the chocolate. Blowtorches are available from homeware and hardware stores. Alternatively, you can place the bananas under a hot grill (broiler) to caramelise the sugar. Dulce de leche can be made a day ahead. Meringue is best made on day of serving. Store in an airtight container and assemble close to serving.
Note
