Baked Banana Sponge Pudding

Baked Banana Sponge Pudding is old fashioned comfort food that everyone will love. Except, unlike the sponge puddings of old, this one doesn’t need to be steamed for hours and hours. This simple but delicious baked pudding needs just forty-five minutes in the oven.

For very little effort you’ll be rewarded with a hot, banana-flavoured dessert just begging for a jug of proper, homemade custard.

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Who doesn’t love a hearty sponge pudding now and then, preferably served with lashings of custard? And if it’s got the distinctive taste and aroma of bananas? Even better!

Old-fashioned sponge puddings used to be boiled for hours. Then, in the age of the microwave, we discovered that super-light sponge puddings can be made in around three minutes.

While I’ve never boiled a pudding, when I want a quick dessert I do often turn to my Microwave Sponge Pudding recipe.

But the recipe I want to share with you today is something of a half-way house. Baked Banana Sponge Pudding doesn’t take hours to cook, although it’s not as quick as a microwaved pud.

Baked in a loaf tin, it’ll take around 45 minutes in the oven. The result is a more substantial sponge than an airily light microwaved one. Which, sometimes, is exactly what I fancy!

The baked sponge pudding also has the advantage that it doesn’t have to be eaten straight away and can be reheated.

BAKED BANANA SPONGE PUDDING

You’ll find a detailed recipe card at the end of this post, but here’s an outline of how it goes.

The ingredients for Baked Banana Sponge Pudding are simple.

• 2 ripe bananas
• self-raising flour
• sugar
• 2 eggs
• butter
• lemon zest (feel free to leave this out)

I’ve made the pudding in various shaped dishes, but always come back to a small loaf tin with a capacity of 450 ml/1lb. I found that this gives a nice depth and a pudding that can be cut into satisfying chunky slices.

To make sure the pudding can be turned out easily, I put a strip of greaseproof paper along the bottom and up the short sides.

The batter is made by beating together butter, sugar and the lemon zest if using.

Next, the eggs are individually beaten in, each with a tablespoon of the flour.

I cut the bananas into slices around half a centimetre thick.

To (hopefully!) prevent the slices sinking to the bottom of the pudding, I toss them in flour (as per the dried fruit for my Genoa Cake).

The banana and flour are then folded in and the mixture put into the tin.

For the first 20 minutes, the Baked Banana Sponge Pudding is cooked at 180C / 160 Fan / Gas 4.

I then turn down the heat to 160C / 140 Fan / Gas 3 and continue cooking until a cocktail stick inserted comes out clean. In my oven this takes a further 25 minutes, so 45 minutes in total.

SERVING, STORING, REHEATING

To serve, lift the pudding out of the tin by holding the ends of the greaseproof paper.

Once on a platter or board, you can cut it into chunky slices. Inside, you should find a lovely, banana-studded moist sponge.

I give everyone two slices each and make a jug of custard for everyone to help themselves.

If you’ve never made real custard before then I hope you’ll try my easy method included in the recipe card. You’ll need an egg yolk, vanilla extract, sugar and milk, plus cornflour which helps to thicken as well as ensuring the egg doesn’t scramble. It really is fool proof!

If you’ve leftovers of the pudding, or want to make it in advance, then store in a container in the fridge until needed. I recommend reheating in the microwave. I’ve reheated both the whole thing and slices. Either works well.

When I’ve had small amounts left over and didn’t want to make a whole batch of custard, I’ve served it with double cream. I’m sure warm Baked Banana Sponge Pudding would go brilliantly with ice cream too!

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Baked Banana Sponge Pudding

An easy, old fashioned hot dessert to eat with custard, cream or ice-cream

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword easy, hot desserts

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 4

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 80 g butter plus extra for greasing
• 180 g self raising flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 80 g caster sugar
• 1 small lemon, zest only optional
• 2 eggs
• 2 bananas peeled and sliced ½ cm thick

For the custard

• 400 ml milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 60 g sugar
• 4 tsp cornflour level tsps for thinner custard, heaped for thicker
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 160C Fan / Gas 4.

   Butter a 1lb loaf tin (or similar sized baking dish).

   To make removal easier, lay a strip of baking paper along the bottom of the loaf tin which is long enough to come up above the short sides.

2. Sift the flour and salt into a medium sized bowl then set aside.

3. Put the butter, sugar and lemon zest in a mixing bowl and beat (ideally using electric beaters) until light and fluffy.

4. Beat in one of the eggs along with 1 tablespoon of the sifted flour.

   Repeat with the second egg and another tablespoon of the flour.

   Toss the banana slices in the remaining flour then fold them and the flour into the beaten mixture.

   Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin, lightly smoothing the top.

5. Put in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

   After 20 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 160 C / 140 C Fan / Gas 3.

   Cook for a further 20-25 minutes or until an inserted cocktail stick comes out clean.

   Note that if you're using a shallower baking tin rather than a loaf tin, then the second stage of cooking may be shorter.

6. Lift or turn the pudding out onto a platter or dish, cut into slicess and serve warm with custard, cream or ice-cream.

   If not eating immediately, can be stored in the fridge for 2 days and reheated in a microwave.

Custard

1. Put the milk in a saucepan and heat gently. Remove from the heat just before it boils.

2. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and vanilla extract in a bowl.

3. Pour the hot milk into the bowl, whisking constantly to combine.

4. Transfer the mixture back into the saucepan and heat gently, stirring, until the custard thickens (approx 3-5 minutes).

   Remove from the heat and serve with the sponge pudding.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from The Dairy Book of Home Cookery (1978)

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