Banana Pudding Layer Cake

Banana pudding cake piece showing banana cake and banana pudding layers topped with whipped cream.

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: American, North American

Prep Time: 1 40

Cook Time: 1 20

Chilling time: 16

Total Time: 19

Servings: slices

Calories: 350kcal

Author: Dini Kodippili

A banana cake + banana pudding combo made with homemade banana sheet cake and a banana flavored banana pudding mixed with fresh banana slices, Nilla wafers, cake crumbs, and topped with light whipped cream! This is a show-stopping banana dessert.

INTERMEDIATE - The recipe itself is easy, but has several components. Each component is easy on its own, but may need some planning ahead of time. US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Common Measurement Conversions. Weight‌ ‌measurements‌ ‌are‌ ‌recommended‌ ‌for‌ ‌accurate‌ ‌results.

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Ingredients

Banana sheet cake

375 g all purpose flour 3 cups, measured by spoon and level method
1 tsp baking soda
400 g mashed overripe bananas 3 – 4 bananas
150 g vegetable oil about ¾ cup
½ tsp sea salt
150 g brown sugar ¾ cup
100 g granulated sugar ½ cup
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp white vinegar
180 mL buttermilk or sour cream ¾ cup, OR 1 tbsp white wine vinegar + 180 mL milk (or plant-based milk)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg

Banana milk (see recipe notes for easy option)

600 mL milk 2½ cups, full-fat milk preferably
200 g bananas about 2 bananas, see recipe notes

Banana pastry cream

9 g gelatin powder 2 ½ tsp
45 mL room temperature water 3 tbsp
500 mL banana milk 2 cups, see above
2 egg yolks from large eggs
1 large egg
40 g cornstarch about 4 US tablespoons
100 g white sugar ½ cup, see recipe notes
½ tsp fine sea salt
15 mL vanilla extract 1 tbsp
57 g butter ½ stick / ¼ cup

Stabilized whipped cream (for the pudding and topping)

720 mL heavy cream 3 cups
3 tsp ClearJel
60 g white sugar ⅓ cup
3 tbsp instant vanilla pudding instead of the clearjel and white sugar

To assemble

200 g Nilla wafers about 7 oz, use less if you're adding chopped cake
3 - 4 ripe bananas just ripe and firm bananas are best

To decorate (optional)

Extra whipped cream
Nilla wafers
Sliced bananas
Salted caramel sauce

Instructions

Banana sheet cake

Make the banana sheet cake according to the banana sheet cake recipe here, in a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.
375 g all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 400 g mashed overripe bananas, 150 g vegetable oil, ½ tsp sea salt, 150 g brown sugar, 100 g granulated sugar, 3 large eggs, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp white vinegar, 180 mL buttermilk or sour cream, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves, ¼ tsp nutmeg
When the cake has cooled down, trim the top so the cake is even and level. You can also trim off more if you like, so that the cake is about 1 inch tall throughout.
Cut cake remnants into smaller pieces so that they can be added to the banana pudding later along with Nilla wafers.

Banana milk

Place the milk in a saucepan. Slice the bananas into the milk. Heat the milk and banana mix over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from burning. Heat until the milk starts to steam or simmer. Do not let it come to a full boil.
600 mL milk, 200 g bananas
Remove the milk from the heat and let it cool down slightly. Transfer to the fridge and let the bananas infuse the milk for at least 4 hours, or up to 12 hours.
Strain the banana milk mixture without pressing the banana pieces through the sieve. You only want the milk portion. To make sure you get all the milk, allow the strainer to sit over the milk for awhile to drain all of the milk. You should get at least 2 cups / 480 mL of milk. If not, just top it with some extra milk to get 2 cups.

Banana pastry cream

Place the water in a bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and mix to saturate the gelatin well. Set aside to bloom the gelatin, for at least 10 minutes.
9 g gelatin powder, 45 mL room temperature water
Place the egg, egg yolks, sugar, salt, cornstarch, and vanilla in a medium-sized pot. Whisk well until you have a smooth, pale mixture with no egg lumps.
2 egg yolks, 1 large egg, 40 g cornstarch, 100 g white sugar, ½ tsp fine sea salt, 15 mL vanilla extract
Add the 2 cups banana milk into the same pot, and whisk to combine all the ingredients really well. Make sure there's no unmixed egg mixture on the bottom of the pot.
500 mL banana milk
Heat the mixture over medium heat, while whisking frequently. As the milk gets warm, whisk the custard constantly while being careful to reach the edges of the pot as well. This is so that the egg mixture won't overcook and set along edge of the pot.
As the custard heats up, lower the heat of the stove to medium low or low to be able to control the consistency of the custard without letting it curdle. If the custard is thickening up too quickly and unevenly or curdling, remove the pot from the heat and whisk vigorously to evenly mix the custard.
Make sure to whisk constantly to prevent curdling, but stop for a few seconds at a time to check if the mixture is coming to a boil.
When the mixture comes to a boil (bubbles break the surface), lower the heat of the stove and whisk continuously for a further minute (or just over), to ensure that the banana custard is thickening evenly throughout.
Remove the custard base from the heat and add the butter and bloomed gelatin. Whisk them in until the butter is emulsified and the gelatin is dissolved. The residual heat is more than enough for this. I also like to use a stick blender to make sure the custard is smooth.
57 g butter
Place the custard in a bowl (or shallow dish) and cover it with plastic wrap. Make sure to press the plastic wrap onto the surface of the custard and cover the whole surface to prevent a skin from forming on top.
Allow the custard to chill in the fridge. A large, shallow dish will chill the pastry cream faster. This can take 4 hours (depending on the dish), or up to 8 hours.
Once the custard is chilled, remove it from the fridge and whisk it until smooth. Now the custard is ready to be mixed with the whipped cream.

Banana diplomat cream (pudding base)

When the custard is chilled, make the stabilized whipped cream.
Place the chilled whipping cream (heavy cream) in a chilled metal bowl (of your mixer).
720 mL heavy cream
In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and clearjel (or place the instant pudding powder in the bowl).
3 tsp ClearJel, 60 g white sugar
Whisk the heavy cream on medium to medium high speed until the cream starts to froth. Then, stream in the sugar - clearjel mixture while whisking.
Whisk the heavy cream on high for a few seconds to ensure that the sugar has mixed in well. Then lower the speed to medium high and whisk the cream until it's just starting to form stiff peaks (peaks with a floppy tip).
Then stop the mixer and stir the cream with the whisk attachment (or regular whisk), to get it to smooth stiff peaks. This will prevent any chances of overwhisking the heavy cream and making it grainy.
ALTERNATIVELY, whisk in about ¼ cup of heavy cream with the instant vanilla pudding powder until mixed well into a smooth paste. Add this paste to the rest of the whipped cream and whisk to combine well. Then start whisking the heavy cream on medium high until the heavy cream just starts to form stiff peaks.
3 tbsp instant vanilla pudding
Separate the whipped cream into two portions. Place half of the whipped cream in a separate bowl for the topping. Keep it in the fridge until needed.
Fold in about ⅓ of the whipped cream into the banana flavored custard. Once well-mixed, either fold the rest of the whipped cream into the custard, or fold the custard into the remaining whipped cream in the mixer bowl. Either way is fine. Now the pudding base is ready.
Fold in roughly broken nilla wafers (or substitute half with some chopped cake pieces).
200 g Nilla wafers

To assemble the banana pudding cake

Place the cake in the pan that you baked it in. This helps to keep the shape of the pudding while it sets.
Optional - Spread salted caramel sauce on the surface of the cake.
Place half of the banana pudding layer on the cake and spread it evenly.
Place a layer of sliced bananas on top of this, followed by the remaining banana pudding. Make sure to spread the banana pudding to completely cover the banana slices.
3 - 4 ripe bananas
Place the whipped cream that was set aside earlier over the banana pudding layer, and spread it evenly on top as the topping.
Cover loosely and refrigerate for a few hours until the pudding layer sets.

To decorate

Top the pudding with extra whipped cream decorations and crushed nilla wafers. You can also place sliced bananas just before serving, or a drizzle of salted caramel sauce.
Extra whipped cream, Nilla wafers, Sliced bananas, Salted caramel sauce

Notes

Note about banana milk

To make an easier banana milk, blend together 100 g of banana (about 1 large banana), and about 400 g / 400 mL of milk. Use 500 mL of this milk to make the custard. The resulting custard will not be as smooth because of the banana pulp in the custard, but it'll still taste great!

Note about sugar

This recipe is less sweet than the classic Magnolia bakery banana pudding. If you want this to be sweeter, then I recommend using 200 g (1 cup) white sugar.

Note about Nilla wafers

You may not use all the wafers if you use some of the chopped cake. You can adjust the amount of wafers you use to your taste.

To chill the pastry cream faster

Place the banana pastry cream in a large, shallow dish - I like to use a quarter sheet pan. Spread it evenly in the dish and cover it with plastic wrap. Then place it in the freezer for about 3 - 4 hours to cool it down faster. DO NOT let it freeze overnight, so check on it every hour to make sure it's not freezing.

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