Red Velvet Banana Pudding

My friend’s daughter is in love with Magnolia Bakery’s Famous Banana Pudding. She inspired me to peek at the recipe in their cookbook and to try this unique, upgraded version. The book declared that this is actually the “ultimate version.” 🙂

The recipe was adapted from The Magnolia Bakery Handbook- A Complete Guide for the Home Baker: Baking Made Easy with 150 Foolproof Recipes & Techniques by Bobbie Lloyd. I used red gel food coloring and modified the method. I also layered the dessert in various individual glass serving bowls. Fun. We love red velvet anything so this was very well received! I’m not sure that it even needed the bananas. 😉

This “ultimate version” requires advanced planning. I made the cake a day in advance. I would also recommend making the pudding base a day in advance! Next time. 😉 Once the dessert has been layered, it is refrigerated another 4 hours to overnight prior to serving.

Yield: Serves up to 16 (4 to 5 quarts)

For the Red Velvet Cake:

• 383g/13.5oz (3 1/3 cups) cake flour
• 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup or 170g/6oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 450g/16oz (2 1/4 cups) granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 scant tsp red gel food coloring (or 6 T liquid red food coloring)
• 3 T (22.5g/0.75oz) unsweetened dark cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (240g/8.5oz) buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

For the Pudding & Assembly:

• 1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cups (360g/12.7oz) ice-cold water
• 1 (3.4oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix (preferably Jell-O brand)
• 1 (8oz) package full-fat cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
• 3 cups (720g/25.5oz) heavy cream
• 4 to 5 ripe, firm bananas, sliced
• 160g (1 cup plus 1 T or 5.6oz) mini chocolate chips or chocolate shavings

To Make the Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, preferably on convection. Butter a 9×13-inch metal baking pan; line with parchment paper and butter and flour the parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt; set aside.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter on medium speed until smooth.
4. Gradually add the sugar and beat until very light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes.
5. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and the paddle.
6. Add the red food coloring and sifted cocoa powder to the mixer bowl.
7. With the mixer on low speed, carefully mix until combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
8. In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the vanilla and buttermilk.
9. Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk. After each addition, be careful to mix just until the ingredients are incorporated. Do not ovemix. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
10. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda.
11. With the mixer on low speed, carefully add the cider vinegar and baking soda mixture to the batter and combine well. Scrape down the bowl.
12. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
13. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the top springs back when touched and a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. (I baked mine for 47 minutes.)
14. Let the cake cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes, then transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely. (The cake can be made ahead and wrapped in plastic for up to 3 days.)

To Make the Pudding:

1. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the condensed milk and water on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute.
2. Add the pudding mix and beat until no lumps remain and the mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes.
3. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl, cover, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
4. Put the room temperature cream cheese pieces in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk. Beat until smooth.
5. Add the chilled pudding to the to the cream cheese and mix until thoroughly combined and smooth, about 5 minutes. Refrigerate while you prepare the whipped cream. Clean the stand mixer bowl and whisk.
6. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, whip the heavy cream on medium speed for about 1 minute; until cream starts to thicken, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip until stiff peaks form. (be careful not to over whip)
7. With the mixer running on low speed, add the chilled pudding mixture a spoonful at a a time. Mix until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

To Assemble:

1. Cut the cake into a 4×2-inch grid. (8 rectangular pieces) If preparing the dessert in individual servings, divide the cake into 16 pieces. Set aside.
2. Select 16 individual serving bowls (or a trifle bowl or wide glass bowl with 4-5 quart capacity). (I used a variety of glasses and glass dessert dishes.)
3. Spread 1/3 of the pudding on the bottom and layer with enough slices of the red velvet cake to cover the layer. (I used about 1/2 (slightly less) of each rationed slice of the cake, reserving crumbs for the top.)
4. Add 1/2 of the sliced bananas (enough to cover the cake pieces) and 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips. (I used 1 tsp of chocolate chips per layer in each serving.)
5. Repeat twice more. The second layer will be identical; the final layer will be pudding topped with a cake crumbs instead of pieces, and chocolate chips without (or with, if desired) banana slices.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight before serving.

Vanilla Pudding Pops

These creamy popsicles are a great summer treat. The chilled pudding was also absolutely delicious prior to being frozen, making this a dessert that can be enjoyed year-round. 🙂

This recipe is from Martha Stewart Living’s Everyday Food. An easy crowd pleaser.

Yield: 7-10 ice pops (depending on the size of the popsicle mold)

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp coarse salt
• 3 cups whole milk
• 3 large egg yolks
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Place a fine-mesh sieve over a medium bowl; set aside. In a medium saucepan, off heat, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
2. Gradually whisk in milk, mixing until ingredients are dissolved. Whisk in egg yolks.
3. Whisking constantly, cook over medium heat until the first large bubble sputters. Reduce heat to low; continue to whisk, and cook 1 minute.
4. Remove from heat, and immediately pour through sieve into bowl; stir in vanilla.
5. Using a funnel, divide mixture among ice-pop molds.
6. Chill in refrigerator until cool and thickened, about 1 hour.
7. Insert pop sticks, and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours and up to 2 weeks.
8. Dip molds briefly in warm water to release pops.

My Mother-In-Law’s Napoleon Torte

My Mother-In-Law is an amazing cook. As much as I enjoy baking, I had to take her up on an offer to bring a dessert for our Thanksgiving weekend feasts. After one bite of this beautiful torte, my son exclaimed that it was the best dessert he has eaten in his entire life. I knew that I had to share her recipe as a guest post of sorts. My son wanted the title to be “The Best Dessert the World Has Ever Known.” 🙂

Delicious and pretty! Here it is:

For the Cake Layer:

• 3 cups (390 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 cup light cream

For the Caramel:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 cans (14 oz each) sweetened condensed milk (Carnation or Borden’s Eagle Brand)

For the Pudding:

• 3 large egg yolks
• 2 T sauce flour (Wondra brand)
• 1 T granulated sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup light cream
• vanilla extract or 1 envelope of Dr. Oetker vanillin sugar
• 3 oz (1 package) serve and cook vanilla pudding (Jello brand)

For the Apricot Layer:

• 1 12-oz can Solo Apricot Cake and Pastry Filling

To Make the Cake Layer:

1. Combine the flour, butter, egg yolks, and light cream until a dough is formed.
2. Divide the dough into 7 equal balls; refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
4. Line 9.5″ cake pans with parchment; coat with cooking oil spray.
5. Roll out each ball of dough into a 9.5″ circle (to fit into the cake pan), trying to make rounds of equal thickness.
6. Prick each round of dough with a fork, cover with aluminum foil (or parchment), and pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes.
7. Remove the foil and weights and continue baking for 4 to 5 minutes, or until lightly brown. (You may have to use a shield to prevent the edges from over browning.)
8. Repeat these steps and bake the remaining rounds.
9. Use 6 rounds for the torte. Crumble one round for decorating.

To Make the Caramel:

1. Place the cans of sweetened condensed milk in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring water to a simmer and cook for 1 1/2 hours- making sure that the cans are covered with water at all times. Cool completely. (This step can be done in advance.)
2. Cream the butter until fluffy.
3. Add 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cans of caramel (to taste) and mix to incorporate well.

To Make the Pudding:

1. Beat 3 egg yolks with granulated sugar and vanilla until lemon-yellow.
2. Mix in flour.
3. Combine the milk and light cream.
4. Add one cup of the milk-cream mixture to the egg-flour-vanilla mixture. Mix well.
5. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan; add the remaining milk-cream mixture. Add the vanilla pudding mix.
6. Mix well and heat on medium until the mixture comes to a boil. Cover with plastic wrap and cool completely in the refrigerator. (The pudding must be cold!)

To Complete the Filling:

1. Fold the Caramel into the Pudding until a uniform mixture is achieved.

To Make the Apricot Layer:

1. Using a small blender, immersion blender, or food processor, blend the apricot filling to make a uniform mass.

To Complete the Torte:

1. Spread the first cake round with a thin coat of apricot filling and then spread the Caramel/Pudding on top.
2. Top with the second round of cake; top with the Caramel/Pudding filling layer only.
3. Continue the process, spreading the apricot filling on every other round.
4. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining Caramel/Pudding filling.
5. Crush the 7th round of cake and decorate the sides of the cake to hide any imperfections.
6. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

One Year Ago:

• Vanilla Bean Milk Tart with Brown Sugar Crust
• Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Two Years Ago:

• Pecan Pie Bars

Three Years Ago:

• Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
• Cranberry Bread