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Dessert

Banana Pudding

A layered dessert of sponge cake, bananas, and custard, topped with whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Banana and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,430 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Banana Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Assemble the base

  1. Layer slices of sponge cake and sliced bananas in a glass dish.

Make the custard

  1. Combine milk, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in wine if using.

Finish and top

  1. Pour custard over the cake and bananas.

  2. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  3. Spread the beaten egg whites over the top of the pudding.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Banana + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Banana + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,470 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Banana + winetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together244 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that sets when thickened.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth custard as it heats.
Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks to form a light topping that adds structure and browning.
Sponge cake
Soaks up custard and gives the pudding its soft, layered body.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to the custard.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until thickened. Cornstarch only thickens fully when the mixture reaches a simmer while stirred, so stopping early leaves a thin custard that will not set and stir constantly to prevent lumps and scorching on the bottom.

Swap the banana

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, vanilla, egg, wine):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Peachfits about as well
  3. Strawberryfits about as well
  4. Bananathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, vanilla, egg, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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