I love banana pudding because it is such a comforting and homey dessert. A good banana pudding should taste like bananas, be light and creamy, not taste artificial, and have the right balance of other components that really makes the bananas shine. Despite the many variations out there in this world, a basic banana pudding consists of bananas, a rich and creamy custard, cookies, and a fluffy topping. I had four banana puddings recently from four acclaimed restaurants and I only liked one of them.

Burdell in Oakland- The cream was droopy, flat, and a tad tangy from probably incorporating some sour cream or crème fraiche into it. There were bits of crumbled cookies on top that provided texture but not much flavor.

Magnolia’ Bakery in Chicago- I tried their “Famous Banana Pudding.” I heard they use instant pudding which gave the custard an artificial, cloying taste.

Virtue in Chicago- President Obama ate here and they have a devoted pastry chef so you would think their banana pudding would be out of this world. However, I found that the vanilla wafers tasted like packaged vanilla wafers from the store. I couldn’t get pass that taste to really enjoy the other elements. (Many chefs use store-bought vanilla wafers so maybe the cookies were intentionally made to taste familiar this way. I know familiarity can be comforting, I did not like that unpleasant kind of familiarity.)

Fiskue in Alameda- We stood in line for over an hour to eat at this popular Indonesian Texas BBQ joint in Alameda. By the time we got to the front I was so hungry that I wanted everything. Their food, including their banana pudding, was worth the wait! It was creamy with a good banana flavor. I liked the addition of caramel.

My husband liked Fiskue’s banana pudding so much he wanted to go back again to get more. I decided to make my own version, which is partly from Carla Hall’s banana pudding recipe and partly inspired by Fiskue’s banana pudding. Carla is one of my favorite former Top Chef contestants because of her unique personality, outstanding talent as a chef, and sense of humor. Carla’s recipe for the custard blends bananas in a blender before infusing them into a pastry cream made with custard, whipped cream, and chopped bananas. She tops her pudding off with a banana-flavored Swiss meringue that is flavored with banana extract. I went with a caramel whipped cream because my husband loves caramel. I also made ladyfingers instead of the vanilla shortbread in Carla’s recipe because I wanted a soft sponge cookie to absorb the pudding the way it does in tiramisu. Finally, I showered shavings of Valrhona chocolate over the caramel whipped cream. I love chocolate and I wanted a bit of acid to enhance the flavor of the bananas. Nothing shouts out love more to me than chocolate. Feel free to omit it though if you are not a chocolate fan. Either way, what started as an intention to make banana pudding morphed into this banana pudding charlotte cake I made for a dinner with friends to celebrate Nate’s belated birthday. It was rich and dreamy!  Maddie’s boyfriend, Tony, declared that he was in love.

For the banana pastry cream-

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup cornstarch

½ teaspoon salt

6 large egg yolks

2 cups whole milk

½ cup mashed ripe bananas, plus 2 whole ripe bananas

2 teaspoons vanilla paste

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup heavy cream

1. Sift together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the egg yolks until the sugar dissolves and the yolks turn pale yellow. Set aside.
2. In a blender, combine the milk and mashed bananas. Blend until smooth. Pour into a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and add the vanilla paste. Cook over medium heat until bubbles begin to form around the edges.
3. Ladle in about 1/3 cup of the hot milk into the egg yolks to temper the eggs. Then pour the tempered eggs into the saucepan and bring to a full boil, whisking vigorously, constantly, and urgently so the eggs don’t scramble. Whisk until the pastry cream thickens. Off the heat, add the butter. Stir until smooth, cover with plastic wrap that is pressed directly onto the surface, and refrigerate the pastry cream for about 2 hours, until chilled.
4. Once the pastry cream is chilled, beat the heavy cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 1-2 minutes. Whisk one-third of the whipped cream into the chilled pasty cream to lighten it, then gently fold in the remaining whipped cream until incorporated. Cut the two bananas into ½ inch wide chunks and gently fold into the pastry cream.

Lady Fingers (Pierre Herme’s recipe)-

6 large egg whites

2/3 cup plus 2 TB sugar

5 large egg yolks

1 cup minus 1 TB all-purpose flour, sifted

1.        In a clean, dry mixer bowl with a clean, dry whisk attachment in place, whip the egg whites on high speed until they turn opaque and form soft peaks. Still whipping on high, gradually add 2/3 cup of the sugar. Continue beating until the whites are glossy and hold very firm peaks. 

2.        In another bowl, whisk the yolks and the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar until they are well blended, about 1-2 minutes. Working with a rubber spatula, gently fold the yolk mixture into the beaten whites. Then fold in the flour, sifting the flour over the mixture in a few additions and incorporating it gently. (The batter will deflate. Don’t’ worry)

3.        Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat oven to 450F. Fit a large pastry bag with a plain ½ inch tip and set aside until needed. Cut two pieces of parchment paper into two baking sheets. On each sheet of paper, draw a 9-inch circle and, across one of the ends of the sheet, draw a band that’s 8 inches long and 4 inches wide. Turn the sheets over and place each piece of parchment on the baking sheet.

4.        Gently spoon a little more than half the batter into the pastry bag. Position a baking sheet so the top and bottom lines for the 8-inch-long band run from your left to your right. Start making a ladyfinger band by piping plump logs of batter from top to bottom within the pencil lines. Pipe one log next to the last one-they’ll touch, and they’re supposed to. Keeping firm and steady pressure on the pastry bag, you should end up with ladyfingers that are about 1 inch wide and about 2/3 to ¾ inch high. When you’ve piped the full 8-inch band, dust it lightly with confectioner’s sugar and pipe the second band in the same fashion; dust it with confectioner’s sugar too. The bands will probably take about 2/3 of the batter. Next, pipe the disks, keeping in mind that the disks should be only about half as high as the plump ladyfinger bands, so you should exert less pressure on the pastry bag. For each disk, begin piping the batter at the center of the circle. Work your way in a spiral to the penciled edge and try to have each coil of batter touch the preceding coil. If you have any holes, you can run an offset spatula very lightly over the disks to fill in the spaces. Let the piped batter rest on the counter for 15 minutes, during which time the confectioner’s sugar will pearl, or form beads.

5.        Give the bands a second light dusting of confectioner’s sugar (there’s no need to sugar the disks) and slip the baking sheets into the oven. Insert the handle of a wooden spoon into the oven to keep the door slightly ajar. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, just until the disks and bands are very lightly golden- you don’t want the cake to take on much color. Slide the parchment off the baking sheets and transfer the cakes, on the sheets, to racks. Allow the cakes to cool to room temperature.

6.        When the cakes are cool, run an offset spatula under the disks and bands to loosen them from the paper. If you want individual biscuits, separate the cookies with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

Caramel Whipped Cream (Zoe Francois’ recipe)

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon corn syrup

3 tablespoons water

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Carefully place sugar and corn syrup in the center of a medium saucepan, being careful not to get sugar on sides of pan.
2. Add water by gently running it down the sides of the pan, washing any rogue sugar back into the center. Do not stir, but gently run fingers through any dry spots of sugar, allowing the water to flow into it.
3. Once mixture is all wet, set over high heat and bring to a boil, without stirring.
4. Allow mixture to boil until sugar just starts to turn amber along the edge.
5. When the caramel is dark amber in color, turn off the heat and slowly drizzle in 1 cup of the cream. The caramel will sputter and may seize up, which is normal. (Warming the cream slightly before adding it to the hot caramel will decrease the chances of the caramel seizing.)
6. If it seizes, whisk gently until the caramelized sugar dissolves, which may take several minutes. Then whisk in the vanilla and remaining 1 cup cream.
7. Cover and refrigerate until well-chilled, at least 2 hours or up to 1 day. In a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat the chilled cream on medium speed until just thick-it will start to leave marks from the whisk in the cream.
8. Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using the whisk attachment, continue whipping by hand for several seconds, until desired consistency.

To assemble: 2 firm ripe bananas, sliced thinly; chocolate shavings from a Valrhona chocolate bar or any chocolate bar you like.

Line the bottom of a plate with one piece of the ladyfinger disks. Add banana pastry cream and smooth with an offset spatula. Top with a layer of bananas. Repeat again with the second ladyfinger disk, custard and bananas. Slather some pudding on the sides of the cake and place the ladyfinger band cookies along the side. (I placed my cookies sideways since the band was too large to stand up vertically.) Crown the pudding with piped caramel whipped cream and shower chocolate shavings on top.