This dulce de leche banana pudding is a perfect light and airy dessert. With the exception of the nilla wafers, this recipe is completely made from scratch. The pudding is actually diplomat cream that ends up giving a texture reminiscent of Magnolia Bakery's banana pudding.

Why you'll love this homemade banana pudding recipe

No instant vanilla pudding mix used here, this dessert is completely homemade.

Can be made in individual servings or in an 8x8 casserole dish to serve a crowd.

Better than Magnolia's bakery banana pudding.

What is diplomat cream?

Diplomat cream (also known as crème diplomate in French) is a pastry cream custard that has been mixed with chantilly. The vanilla custard is folded into sweetened whipped cream with a bit of gelatin making it a light, stabilized cream that is perfect for banana pudding

Ingredients needed for this classic southern banana pudding with a twist

Whole milk
Granulated Sugar
Salt
Cornstarch
Vanilla Extract
Large Eggs
Unsalted Butter
Gelatin Powder

Cold Water
Heavy Whipping cream
Powdered Sugar
Dulce De Lache
Ripe Bananas
Nilla Wafers
Sea Salt

Instructions to make this famous banana pudding

The first step is to make the pastry cream / custard.

Place the milk in a saucepan, and heat over medium high heat.
While heating the milk to a simmer , place the sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk until you have a thick, smooth mix and set aside.
As soon as the milk starts to simmer, remove it from the heat. Slowly pour about a ½ cup of the hot milk into the egg mix, while whisking constantly. Once the egg mixture has been tempered completely add it back to the sauce pan.
Heat the custard base, over medium heat, while whisking vigorously until it starts to thicken after a few minutes.
Once the custard releases a bubble to the surface, lower the heat and cook for another 4 minuted while whisking constantly.
Remove from the heat and add the butter. Stir until completely mixed in
Pour the custard through a sieve to remove all lumps and pour into into a chilled bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic wrap is touching the whole surface. This is to prevent a custard skin from forming on top.
Let the custard cool down to room temperature and then let it chill in the fridge until completely chilled.

Next, lets make the stabilized whipped cream / chantilly cream.

Place the chilled heavy cream in your mixer with the whisk attachment. Add the powdered sugar and mix it in.
Place the water in a small microwaveable bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin and stir it in. Allow the gelatin to bloom in the water.
Microwave the bloomed gelatin for about 20 seconds to dissolve the gelatin. But do NOT let it boil.
Stir in the some chilled heavy cream to temper the gelatin mixture.
Start whisking the chilled heavy cream-sugar mix on high speed and quickly pour in the gelatin mixture.
Whisk the heavy cream on high for a few seconds to incorporate the gelatin.
Once the gelatin is incorporated, lower the speed to medium high, and whisk the cream until it's just starting to form soft peaks.
Use a whisk to manually whisk the cream the rest of the way until it reaches stiff peaks.

Making the Diplomat Cream

Once you've made the whipped cream, begin folding in the chilled custard about half a cup at a time. Once the half cup has been well mixed in, fold in the remainder.

Assembling your banana pudding

Cut your fresh bananas into ½ inch slices.
Place the contents of the dulce de leche can into a microwave safe bowl along with ¼ cup of heavy cream. Microwave in 30 second intervals until the dulce de leche can be well mixed with the cream. Mix until you have runny sauce.
Cover the bottom of your desired banana pudding container with one layer of vanilla wafers.
Over the wafers, add a layer of banana slices, this should be about ⅓ of your banana slices. Over the banana slices add about ⅓ of your dulce de leche sauce.
Over the dulce de leche, add ½ of the diplomate cream.
On top of the diplomat cream, repeat the layering process and ass ⅓ of your wafers, ⅓ of the banana slices and ⅓ of the dulce de leche.
Place the remainder of the diplomat cream over the second layer of dulce de leche. Then add your final layer of nilla wafers, bananas and dulce de leche. Sprinkle sea salt and decorate as desired. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Variations and Substitutions for this homemade pudding

Don't have time to make your own vanilla pudding? Use a store-bought vanilla pudding mix and fold into it a container of cool whip.

Don't have vanilla wafer cookies? You can use chessman cookies, shortbread or a vanilla cookie of your choice.

Don't have dulce de leche? You can simply omit it for a delicious traditional banana pudding or replace it with salted caramel.

Want to make individual servings? Prepare your banana pudding in your favorite mason jars or stemless wine glasses.

Want to make a big batch to serve at a party or get together? Prepare this banana pudding from scratch in an 8x8 serving dish or a trifle bowl.

Storage for this homemade banana dessert

Place the leftover banana pudding in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for upto 3 days. It's not recommended to freeze banana pudding as the custard will form ice crystals and the fresh bananas will brown and turn to mush.

Dulce De Leche Banana Pudding