Banana Pudding with Pound Cake

All pudding is good pudding in my book, but banana pudding is the best pudding by a mile. Chocolate pudding? Chill. Butterscotch? Swerve. Lemon? See yourself later.

For reasons that I don’t have the energy to explain, banana is the undisputed flavor champion of all puddings. It’s a rich and creamy, all-ages favorite in every corner of the United States. Find me a human who doesn’t enjoy banana pudding, and I’ll show you a person absent of a soul.

OK, that’s a bit much, but it’s delicious and easy to assemble, so I don’t understand what’s not to get excited about! The list of ingredients you have to purchase won’t break the bank, which is excellent for someone who needs to keep things recessional like me.

Millennials, amirite?

No-bake pudding > baked pudding, wholly because I’m a shiftless loaf as of late

This is by far one of the most requested dessert recipes that my friends ask me to bring them. What makes this version of banana pudding so good is the addition of condensed milk and mascarpone, the Italian version of cream cheese most commonly found in tiramisu. It’s silkier and less tangy than American cream cheese, and the mascarpone adds a subtly sweet and milky flavor to the pudding that I very much enjoy.

I’m no food snob, and so elitism has no place in my kitchen. If you want to take shortcuts with your banana pudding, I won’t raise my nose to the sky or scoff at your decision to use whatever supermarket shortcut you find. I know many banana pudding purists make their custard from scratch or roll their eyes at the idea of instant pudding, but truth be told, this is the kind of dessert that will always taste great no matter what method you decide to use. I think that’s why it’s so beloved in America; it’s incredibly customizable and adaptable—  the recipe and preparation depend on the individual's preference.

Test to see if the pound cake is fully cooked by inserting a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean, you’re good to go

Let the pound cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a plate

Pro tip: After greasing the pans, sprinkle granulated sugar onto them so the crust gets sweet and slightly crunchy

You have quite a few options when choosing a cookie or cake to layer your pudding with. While I went for a homemade cream cheese pound cake, the classic choice of Nila wafers seems to reign supreme in most other recipes I’ve seen. I think using shortbread cookies, ladyfingers, banana bread, or even Oreos would work great too, but it’s really up for you to decide what kind of sweets you want to experiment with. 

Like I mentioned earlier, banana pudding is adaptable, and it will taste amazing no matter what method or ingredients you settle on. That’s why I adore this dessert so much. Every household makes it different, and it’s tough to screw up. Even if you somehow overcook your pound cake and it comes out dry, guess what? IT DOESN’T MATTER. Why? Because the pound cake soaks up the pudding, and the layers compress while it chills in the refrigerator, making everything nice and moist by the time it’s ready to serve.

The base layer is always cake or cookies

While the second layer is always bananas

Then for the third layer, you spread on the pudding, smoothening the cream so it fully coats the bottom layers

Now you start over from step one and repeat

You should always fully cover the bananas in the pudding because it will slow them from browning

Top the dessert off with more pudding, spreading it out evenly before garnishing with crumbled cake and more bananas

Additionally, you should refrigerate the banana pudding for at least two to four hours before serving so everything sets. Still, I enjoy it better the next day because the pudding has time to absorb the flavor of the fresh bananas and intensify overnight.

There’s only one problem you can encounter when whipping up this pudding, and that’s the banana browning issue. Aesthetically, it’s not so great, so if you’re planning on serving this dessert the following day, I would recommend very lightly coating the bananas in diluted citrus juice before layering because this slows down the enzymatic browning process (SCIENCE!). While refrigerating the bananas in an airtight container slows down the oxidizing enzymes, the ascorbic acid in lemons, grapefruit, and pineapple acts as a preservative, which close to halts the chemical reaction that causes fruit to brown.

A spray bottle is the favored method for coating the bananas because a light spritz won’t alter their flavor. Still, if you don’t have a spare bottle, it’s more than acceptable to quickly dip them into the diluted juice or apply it using a silicone pastry brush. I’ve never tried it, but I’ve heard that seltzer/club soda is also a viable and flavorless option to stop the bananas from browning so quickly. Who knew?

I always think of Serj when I take an aerial shot

See: Aerials by System of a Down

Banana pudding is a great party dessert considering that this recipe yields a whole lot of servings. You’re going to have leftover pound cake, so you can either double the amount of pudding or save the leftover cake for breakfast as I do. It tastes fantastic when dunked into a cup of black coffee. I pretty much love any dessert that can double as breakfast.

If you don’t own a large clear bowl or trifle bowl, mason jars or a glass baking dish are great ways to display and serve banana pudding. If you don’t have any of those, well, damn dude. Maybe you can keep it college, shotgun a beer, throw on your socks with slides and try solo cups? Either way, how you display this dessert won’t impact the flavor. If you’re making this for your family and you want to keep it real, forget the fancy serve ware and find whatever big ass bowl you have laying around the house instead. I BELIEVE IN YOU. 

Pudding has no right looking this sexy

Banana Pudding Ingredients 

• Instant banana pudding or French vanilla pudding mix

• 5 bananas

• 3 cups of heavy whipping cream

• 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

• 1 cup of mascarpone

• 1 teaspoon of almond extract

• Pinch of salt

Pound Cake Ingredients 

• 1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

• 1/2 cup of plain yogurt

• 2 1/2 cups of granulated sugar

• 1/2 cups of brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon of almond extract

• 6 large eggs, room temperature

• 3 cups of cake flour

• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Pound Cake Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2. Grease Bundt pan or two loaf pans with butter, lightly sprinkling sugar onto the pan

3. Using a stand mixer with a paddle (preferred) or whisk attached, combine butter and cream cheese on high until smooth, about 2 minutes

4. Slowly add in sugar, blending until it’s both creamy and fluffy on high speed, about 1 minute

5. Add in the yogurt and extract, mix for another minute or until combined

6. Mix in the eggs individually at low speed, beating until the yellow color of the mix starts to disappear, just a few turns with each egg 

7. Gradually add in the salt and cake flour until well combined at low speed. Do not over mix otherwise, the cake’s texture will change

8. Remove from the mixer and pour into greased Bundt pan or two loaf pans 

9. Cook for one hour to 70 minutes, rotating the cake halfway. Loosely cover the cake with tin foil at the 40-minute mark to prevent the top from over-browning

10. Dip a toothpick into the cake to see if it’s fully cooked and remove it from the oven, cooling the cake for 10 minutes in its pan

11. Invert the cake onto a plate or serving tray and let rest for one hour to 90 minutes 

    * The pound cake needs to cool for at least an hour before assembling the dessert; otherwise, you risk the bananas browning from the heat

Banana Pudding Instructions

1. Place mixing bowl in the freezer for 20 minutes

2. In a large bowl, beat the condensed milk, pudding, mascarpone, and pinch of salt together until well combined for about 2 minutes

3. Remove mixing bowl from the freezer and, using a stand mixer, whip the heavy cream and extract on medium speed until stiff peaks form for about 5 minutes

4. On low, slowly pour in the pudding mixture until it disappears into the cream

Assembly Instructions

1. Using a large glass bowl, trifle bowl, baking dish, or mason jars, arrange the cubed pound cake on the bottom

2. Completely cover the pound cake in a layer of bananas, overlapping if necessary

3. Pour the pudding mixture over the bottom two layers and evenly spread using a rubber spatula until smooth

4. Repeat the first three steps one or two more times (depending on the size of the bowl)

5. Garnish the top with crumbled pound cake and strategically place bananas

6. Tightly cover the banana pudding and refrigerate for two to four hours before serving