The world’s most popular fruit – the banana – has a new, tasty fan club.
Food entrepreneur Courtney Dougherty is launching a line of fully baked, ready-to-eat-out-of-the-jar, banana desserts that will have you smiling at their intense banana-based flavors.
Rather appropriately, the dessert line is called Bananappeal. Everything Courtney makes is all-natural, preservative-free and as she uses no hydrogenated oils, all her desserts are trans fat-free.
Courtney has produced four varieties of Cheesecake in a Jar:
Bananas Foster
Banana Gingersnap
Banana Tiramisu
Banana Strawberry
The Tiramisu and Strawberry cheesecakes are gluten-free.
She has also produced four varieties of Frosted Cake in a Jar:
Banana Chocolate Fudge
Banana Peanut Butter
Banana Salted Caramel
Banana Toasted Coconut
The Banana Peanut Butter Frosted Cake
If you can stop at one jar in a sitting, you either have Absolute Will Power, or you may be comatose; in which case, see a doctor.
Courtney’s Bananappeal desserts are so good that Williams-Sonoma may put her mixed four-packs in its late winter/early spring catalogue.
MMMMM, love it!
The frosted cakes are available in both an 8-oz. (1-2 servings) and a 4-oz. (single serving) size, while the cheesecakes are available only in a 4-oz. size.
At present, you can order these sensational, fully baked, ready-to-eat desserts from Courtney’s website, www.bananapppeal.com.
Pricing:
The 4-pack, 4-oz. frosted cakes are $29.95
The 4-pack, 8-oz. frosted cakes are $39.95
The 4-pack, 4-oz. cheesecakes are $29.95
The 4-pack, 4-oz. gluten-free cheesecakes are $34.95
Full disclosure
I was introduced to 27-year-old-Courtney 16 months ago by Napa Valley wine friends who asked if I could help her refine a culinary concept.
(I have been a product development consultant to the food industry for 35 years and have brought to market many of the products in your kitchen cupboard – mostly the healthier ones.)
I offered to coach Courtney at no charge, thinking this was an ideal way to give something back to the food industry, which has been good to me.
I was particularly eager to help Courtney for four reasons:
1. Bananas are on my own list of food-favorites.
2. I was captivated by Courtney’s bright, spirited entrepreneurial approach to business.
3. I enjoy mentoring bright, young people.
4. I respected Courtney’s credentials and experience. She graduated twice – once from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, and then she graduated from the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, in Napa Valley, with a baking and pastry certificate.
Courtney has great experience, having worked with the best and at the best; she has been executive assistant to Tyler Florence, famed chef and Food Network personality; she was a respected concierge at Napa Valley’s Auberge du Soleil; she helped launch three restaurants in the Bay-area and has been a pastry chef at two top-tier American restaurants, Tru, in Chicago, and Eleven Madison Park, in New York. (I know, I know… after all this experience you’d expect Courtney to be 75!)
After a lot of backing and forthing across the country, Courtney longed to return to the Bay-area to explore her banana passion.
Bananas, grown in more than 107 countries, are universally available, but until Courtney came along, no one thought of producing a line of banana-based desserts. And even more specifically, no one thought of baking them INSIDE a glass jar – so that for convenience, and sheer pleasure, the consumer can spoon Courtney’s fully baked confection out of the reusable, or recyclable, jar.
What’s more, we discovered as we worked together that the glass jars are a superb barrier against spoilage.
Even though there are no preservatives in Bananappeal desserts, and everything is all-natural, the shelf-life of these desserts, kept refrigerated, can be measured in weeks, not days.
(For the record: I have NO commercial interest, or investment, in Courtney’s business; I only guided and coached her, at no charge, to help her get her product line ready to launch.)
About the Fantastic Packaging
Courtney’s original desserts, I felt, required original packaging. So I suggested that Courtney contact Jenn White Topliff, my daughter, to see if she could develop something special for “Court,” as she is known.
Jenn is a Bay-area graphic designer with many years of professional experience, having designed compelling packages for many big-name clients. (Check out her work at www.13creative.com)
Jenn and I have often worked together as a dad ‘n daughter team, Jenn producing imaginative packages for clients for whom I have fixed, developed, or improved products.
I figured Jenn and Courtney, who are look-alikes, would develop a great friendship as well as great packaging. Dad was right on both counts.
I am proud of Jenn’s highly original packaging, which plays on a 50’s theme – a time when mom made these kind of desserts for her family.
Courtney and Jenn ham it up – but there is NO ham in Courtney’s frosted cakes!
Good going Courtney and Jenn! I didn’t think that this story should go un-applauded on the napaman site just because I had a minor hand in directing Courtney or teaming her up with Jenn.
Update: To commence commercial production, Courtney has just left the Bay-area, relocating in Denver, CO, where she will produce all her banana-based, jarred desserts.
Good luck, Court – to keep up with demand… and to get through the cold Colorado winter! The Bay-area’s loss is definitely Denver’s gain.
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