Make the cake.  Or make the pudding first, it really doesn’t matter.  But if you’re making the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 325 degrees F convection.  Grab an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan.  Or go square – anything goes!

In the bottom of the pan, stir together the coconut oil, sugar, syrup, and salt.  Arrange the bananas in a pretty pattern, being sure to cover as much of the base of the pan as possible.

In a large bowl, make the batter.  Stir together the oil, sugar, and eggs until well combined.  Stir in half the flour, followed by the milk, then the remaining flour, along with the baking powder and soda and cardamom.  Stir in the bananas and chips and pour over the bananas in the prepared pan.

Bake 40-50 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs.  Cool in the pan 10 minutes before carefully loosening the edges and inverting onto the serving platter of your choice.  Serve warm or store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.  Warm in the microwave about 20 seconds before serving.

Make the pudding.  In a medium saucepot, stir together the milk, banana slices, and vanilla seeds and pod.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl, cover, and allow to cool to room temperature.  Once cool enough refrigerate overnight.

The next day, strain the banana and vanilla bean out of the milk.  In a medium saucepan, the same one as before will do just fine, whisk together the sugar, tapioca, cardamom, and egg yolks.  Slowly whisk in the milk, and place over medium heat, stirring almost constantly, until the mixture starts to thicken and eventually comes to a boil.  Once the mixture is pudding thick, you’ll know, remove from the heat.  Strain again if there are lumps, I didn’t have this problem, and serve warm or refrigerate covered with plastic right on top of the pudding up to 4 days.