Use Up Leftover Bread and Overripe Bananas in This Easy “Pain Perdu” Style Baked Pudding.
A twist on the British classic, this banoffee bread and butter pudding uses up leftover ripe bananas and buttery bread, baked in creamy custard with generous spoonfuls of smooth dulce de leche for a rich caramel flavour. Use either dulce de leche or a good quality caramel sauce to add divine sticky toffee flavour.
In France this kind of no-waste bread pudding is called pain perdu – meaning “lost bread”.
A Thrifty No-Waste Pudding With A Luxurious Twist
Got too many ripe bananas calling the fruit flies? And a pile of stale bread that’s too dry for sandwiches? What if I told you there was an easy baked banana pudding that’s not yet another banana cake in which you can avoid food waste and combine these leftover ingredients into a sumptuous crowd-pleasing dessert?
My banana bread and butter pudding with caramel does exactly that, reviving tired crusts and giving the Cinderella treatment to spotty bananas. The magic Fairy Godmother touch is dulce de leche, or at a lower price point, thick salted caramel sauce.
It’s make-ahead friendly too. You can make this caramel bread pudding an hour or two in advance, which makes it a great option as something easy to serve after lunch with friends or family.
Why You’ll Love This Banoffee Bread and Butter Pudding
This banana bread pudding with caramel ticks lots of boxes:
- Uses up leftover bread and overripe bananas
- It’s a low effort make-ahead dessert
- Rich caramel flavour from dulce de leche
- A comfort pud that feels luxurious and indulgent
Banoffee Bread and Butter Pudding Ingredients
The Best Caramel
You can obviously buy Dulce de Leche ready made in jars or you could make your own thick fudge sauce such as the one I served with pancakes.
I picked up Salted Caramel Spread in one of Lidl’s regular French weeks, amongst a collection of Emily in Paris branded treats (they had boxed macaron kits too). This version was a limited edition product, however Bonne Maman do one too, as I’ve seen on my holiday trips to the hypermarché. Plus Aldi frequently stock something similar in their Special Selection range.
Think of this banoffee recipe as a cross between classic British bread and butter pudding, and the French pain perdu – simple ingredients getting an Emily-style makeover and rebranded as an irresistible treat. You can imagine Sylvie scolding, “Emily! We have too many of your mushy bananas and the bread is going stale! It’s another one of your disasters!”
But in no time at all, these ingredients come together in an effortlessly chic, luxurious dessert that everyone will swoon over. Even Sylvie would have to begrudgingly admit the banoffee bread and butter pudding came good in the end – even if it’s made with ze English white bread.
The Best Bananas
The perfect banana to use in this easy banana dessert is one that’s gone a bit leopard skin on the outside but when you peel off its jacket, the inside isn’t as far-gone as you feared. Those more mature bananas suit smoothies better (may I suggest my chocolate banana shake).
Your bananas need not be bordering on “past it” but they definitely mustn’t be under-ripe.
The Best Bread for Bread and Butter Pudding
What I term “plastic white bread” or “duck bread” is best for bread and butter pudding; although I don’t buy white bread ordinarily, I do like it for bread sauce or bacon sandwiches. This is not the place for the solid heel of your Gail’s sourdough (for that make croutons for soup).
Sometimes I see yellow-stickered reduced ready sliced white bread that’s perfect for making bread puddings. The texture of fluffy white – ok it’s not hip – cheap sliced bread is actually just the ticket for absorbing the creamy custard.
Of course, we might elevate the entire thing with a brioche or croissant bread and butter pudding that really nods towards being a pain perdu bake. Personally I’ve never been troubled by leftover croissants but if you want to French It Up, this would work too.
I have previously also made slow cooker bread and butter pudding using hot cross buns around Easter.
Assembling Banoffee Bread and Butter Pudding
You could fully assemble the banoffee bread and butter pudding a couple of hours in advance, in fact leaving the custard a while to soak into the bread is better than rushing. Just make sure the bananas are fully covered with bread and liquid to avoid them getting brown.
Then pop the pudding into the oven whilst serving the main course and 45 minutes later – leaving time for a civilised pause at a lazy lunch – your custardy baked dessert will be perfectly ready to serve.
This hot bread pudding is as comforting as a sticky toffee pudding but feels more elevated than school dinner canteen splodge!
Top Tips for Banoffee Bread and Butter Pudding
Make the perfect banoffee bread and butter pudding by:
- Use bananas that are ripe enough.
- Don’t be stingy with the caramel – use generous teaspoonfuls rather than spreading it around.
- Inexpensive white bread past its best is great – or elevate by using croissants.
- Allow time for the custard to soak into the bread – at least five minutes.
Serve Banoffee Bread and Butter Pudding Hot or Cold
This pudding is best served warm from the oven. It’s perfect for casual serving at a weekend meal with friends or family. I love the contrast of hot pudding with cold vanilla ice cream.
Or you can keep any leftover bread and butter pudding in the fridge to re-heat over the next couple of days. I reheat mine on medium microwave power so not to scramble the eggs in the custard. Around 1 minute on medium per portion is right.
The full recipe and ingredients for this banoffee bread and butter pudding are shown in the card below.
Banoffee Bread and Butter Pudding (with Caramel and Banana)
Equipment
- 1 medium size oven proof dish.
Ingredients
- 8 slices bread preferably stale
- 3 tbsp butter softened
- 2 bananas ripe, sliced into discs
- 500 ml milk whole or semi-skimmed
- 100 ml double cream (I use Elmlea reduced fat version)
- 3 eggs large
- 100 g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150 g dulce de leche
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tbsp demerara sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160c / Gas 3.
- Spread the bread with the butter as if making sandwiches. Line the bottom of the baking dish with two layers of buttery bread pieces, tearing these to make them fit.
- Top the buttery bread layer with your generous piles of banana discs. Spoon half of the dulce de leche into random piles – filling any larger gaps.
- Top the banana layer with more buttery bread, torn into large chunks – you don't want it to look too tidy. Top with the remaining dulce de leche.
- Beat the milk, cream, eggs, sugar , vanilla and nutmeg together in a jug and whisk until the yolks have been broken. Slowly and evenly pour over the bread, bananas and caramel. Allow the liquid to soak into the bread for five minutes.
- Sprinkle demerara sugar over the top of the pudding and bake for 45 minutes – I like to keep an eye on it in the final ten minutes incase the top is scorching. When cooked the pudding will puff up and it is best served warm.
Notes
Save this banoffee bread and butter pudding for later
This baked banana and caramel pudding is the perfect no-waste dessert. Next time you need an easy banana pudding recipe, or a weekend bake or thrifty dessert using leftover ingredients, come back to this recipe for a rich hot banana bread pudding with a caramel twist.
You might also like my marmalade bread and butter pudding or my banana fudge muffins for recipes that use up leftover bread or over ripe bananas.
Have I tempted you to make banoffee bread and butter pudding? Let me know in the comments below.
That looks so good. I’m definitely going to try this. I’ve also got a bottle of caramel sauce I bought in Lille. I bet a splodge of that on top might be nice.
If it’s thick it will work but if it’s thin sauce for Iles Flottantes that’s better for crème caramel ??
Oh yum! What a good idea!
Thank you! Bread and butter pudding is always a good idea!