Banana Pudding Cheesecake
Follow our step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe to make this unique dessert. We’ve combined the flavors of a Southern Banana Pudding to make this delicious cheesecake with a Vanilla Wafer crust. It’s much easier to make than you might think. Printable recipe included.
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Banana Pudding Cheesecake
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Banana Pudding is one of the major food groups for Southerners.
When I saw recipes for a Banana Pudding Cheesecake, I was determined I wanted to make one.
I purchased a Springform cake pan well over a year ago, but never got around to using it. Now was the time to break it in.
Do you like cheesecake? To me, they don’t have a lot of flavor in them, at least not the one’s I’ve tasted. The best part seems to be the toppings you place on them. Whether it’s Strawberry, Blueberry, Caramel or any other topping, I just think that’s what makes the cheesecake taste so good. How about you?
We have a small drive-thru place here in town that sells New York style cheesecake by the slice. Kind of unique for a drive-thru place, but I find myself ordering a slice ever now and then. Generally, I’ll get it with the Strawberry or Blueberry toppings. Those two are my favorites.
This cheesecake is also light on the banana flavor. Since you’ll be following along on my first time ever baking one, I might would add a little banana extract type flavoring to another one when I make it again. Or, maybe a little more vanilla extract. Keep it in mind if you decide to bake one of your own.
I was quiet pleased with the outcome though. I searched bunches of recipes, and came up with pretty much my own version to make this one.
It really was very simple to put together. It just needs to rest in your refrigerator for 6 hours, or even better, it should stay there overnight in order to firm up properly. Waiting that long before getting the chance to slice it was the hard part.
While I’ve thought about making it for some time now, I must admit that I regret not making it sooner.
I had an auctioneer friend that loved cheesecake, and he always talked about banana pudding. Anytime a large bowl came up for sell at his auction house, he’d always say he’d buy the bowl if someone would make him a banana pudding in it.
Sadly, he passed away just a couple of weeks ago, and I never had the chance to offer him a slice.
So, don’t hesitate on making this one. If you love Banana Pudding, and you love Cheesecake, I’m sure you’ll like it. Ready to get started? Alright then, let’s get in the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking!
Dedicated in memory of Col. Wicker.
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Banana Pudding Cheesecake Recipe: You’ll need these ingredients.
Be sure to let your eggs, cream cheese, and the butter, come up to room temperature before you start making your cheesecake.
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Crush the vanilla wafers into crumbs.
I placed my vanilla wafers, except for about 20 of them, into a plastic freezer bag with a zip top. Freezer bags are a little thicker than a regular ziploc type of bag and thus stronger.
A rolling pin made fairly simple work of crushing the wafers into crumbs for the cheesecake crust.
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Measure out the needed amount of crumbs and place them into a mixing bowl.
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Add the granulated sugar.
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Add the cinnamon.
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Stir all the dry ingredients together well.
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Add the melted butter.
The butter was already at room temperature, so it only took about 10 seconds in the microwave to melt it down.
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Stir the butter into the crumbs well. You want to make sure all of the crumbs are moistened.
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The crumbs should be moist enough to stick together when squeezed. If not, add a bit more melted butter.
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I’m going to be using my new springform pan.
I’ve had this pan well over a year but have never used it. This is a two piece pan. The bottom comes out, and the ring, as you can see, has a latch that lets you release the sides from the bottom so its easier to get your cheesecake out of the pan.
Springform pans are mostly used for cheesecakes and ice cream cakes, but is not used for regular cake batters because they are too thin.
Notice the “lip” on the bottom of the pan. This helps keep the batter or filling inside the pan and not leaking out.
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You’ll need to grease the sides of the pan.
I used the wrapper from my stick of butter to grease down the sides. You could also use a spray type of shortening if you have that.
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I want to place parchment paper in the bottom of the pan.
Since the pan was new, I used the advertising piece that was on the inside of the pan as a perfect template for cutting the parchment. I placed it on a piece of parchment and traced around the outside with a pencil, then used my kitchen shears to cut the circle out.
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I assembled the springform pan together, then spread a little softened butter around the bottom to help hold the parchment paper in place.
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Use sugar to coat the sides of the pan.
Normally, a recipe will tell you to “grease and flour” your baking pan. I found this tip for using sugar to coat the sides and wanted to give it a try.
I placed about a quarter cup of sugar in the pan, then rolled it around the inside edge of the pan to give it a good coating. Any excess sugar was dumped out. I’m anxious to see how this idea works.
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Next, place the moistened crumbs inside the pan and spread them out with a spoon.
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I placed a little butter on my fingers, then pressed the crumbs firmly into the bottom of the pan. I also tried to create a bit of a rim around the outer edge that was just a bit higher than the bottom. Sort of like when you spread out pizza dough.
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Place the crust in a oven pre-heated to 350F degrees. Let it bake for just 8 minutes. Watch it carefully so it doesn’t burn. Remove from oven, place on a wire rack to cool completely.
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Peel your bananas and place them in a medium sized sauce pot.
Be sure to remove all the “phloem” from your bananas. No body likes to eat that stuff.
Did you know that stringy stuff you find on bananas is called Phloem? It’s pronounced FLOM, and it’s about like finding a hair in your food if you don’t remove it. Yuck!
And, did you know that if you hold the banana by it’s handle and peel it from the top end down, you will not get any of that Phloem in the first place?
Okay, I didn’t know this either, but I felt certain that stringy stuff had a name and I looked it up. Smile.
I also learned that Americans eat an average of 27 POUNDS of bananas every year per person.
The bigger question would be how many pounds do they BUY in order to eat that many? I buy three or four bananas about each time I go grocery shopping and end up throwing two of them away because they become too soft before I get around to eating them. I have good intentions when I buy them, but they go bad too quick. Is it just me?
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Add the lemon juice. This is suppose to help keep the bananas from turning dark.
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Add the brown sugar.
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Mash the bananas. I used my potato masher for this part.
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Now, I’m not sure this part is actually needed, but I did it anyway.
Place the sauce pot over Medium heat on your stove top. Stir it constantly, and let it heat up enough to just dissolve the brown sugar.
I thought the sugar was pretty well dissolved before it ever went on the heat, but I did this part anyway. If yours looks dissolved, just skip over heating it up and I think you’ll be fine.
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Grab a large mixing bowl and add the cream cheese.
Use your mixer to beat the cream cheese until it’s creamy and smooth. This shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes if you have let the cream cheese come up to room temperature ahead of time.
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Gradually add the sugar to the cream cheese.
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Add the cornstarch and mix that in.
The cornstarch is suppose to prevent the cheesecake from cracking when baking.
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Add the vanilla extract.
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I always suggest that you crack your eggs into a small dish as opposed to directly into your recipe. It makes it easier to remove any pieces of shell that might fall in.
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Add the eggs one at a time into the batter.
Beat the eggs on a slow speed just to the point of where the yellow part is mixed in. You don’t want to add a lot of air into your cheesecake, so go easy on the mixing when adding the eggs.
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Mix it just to the point to where everything is combined.
By the way, I’m still loving my OXO Illuminated Hand Mixer. Yep, it’s got a headlight on it. Smile.
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Add the bananas to the cream cheese mixture.
I think the cooking caused them to turn a bit darker than I would have liked.
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Use a spoon and gently fold the bananas into the cream cheese mixture. Again, do this just to the point to where you feel like everything is combined together without over mixing it. We’re still trying to avoid making air bubbles and whipping air into our mixture.
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This part took two hands. Pour the cream cheese mixture into your pan and gently spread it out with a spoon. I also tried to smooth out the top a bit, but it didn’t seem to do a lot of good so I stopped.
Hey, we’re baking this for the first time together. I’m learning as I go with this one. Same as you, but I’ve always thought that was one of the best parts about our recipes on Taste of Southern. You’re seeing the actual way I make a recipe based on the printed recipe that I provide along with it. All my recipes are kitchen tested this way so you shouldn’t experience any surprises when trying our recipes. How’s that?
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Place the cheesecake in a 300F degree oven. Let it bake for 60-80 minutes or until it’s done. A cheesecake is done when the outer edges are solid but the center should still wiggle a bit when you slightly shake the cake pan.
CAUTION: Do Not Open the oven for at least 60 minutes after it starts to bake. Doing so could cause cracks in your cake. You wouldn’t want that to happen if at all possible.
I actually baked mine for 1 hour and 25 minutes.
When the cake is done. Turn the oven OFF and crack open the door to your oven. Just let the cake sit inside until it completely cools.
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Here’s mine out of the oven after it had cooled. As you can see it has a couple of small cracks. It’s not a disaster by any means and I think I know what I might have done to cause it.
I had my timer set for 1 hour and 8 minutes before I would open the oven. When I opened it and wiggled the cake gently, I saw that the outer edge was still wobbly. The next time I opened the oven, 10 minutes later, I saw the two cracks in it. I think it probably happened because I opened the oven and tested it a bit too soon. Don’t know that for certain, but it sounds reasonable doesn’t it? Smile.
When the cake is cooled, cover it and place it in the refrigerator to firm up.
It’s best if you can leave it overnight, but it does need about 6 hours to set before you attempt to slice it. Just saying.
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Remove the cake from the pan.
This can be a little tricky. Remember the bottom of the springform pan comes out of the pan itself.
I used a large plastic container to sit the cake on first. Then, I released the latch to the pan. This way, the rim of the pan could slide DOWN and away from the cheesecake.
Since the cake had released from the sides while it baked, this part actually turned out to be pretty simple. I guess the coating of sugar on the inside edge of the pan worked pretty good after all.
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Slice, serve, and Enjoy!
Okay, lets be honest about this. I wanted to slip the cake and the parchment paper off of the metal bottom of the pan before attempting to slice it.
Perhaps I was trying to move too fast after taking the cheesecake out of the refrigerator, but the bottom crust just didn’t want to let me get a knife under the parchment paper. The bottom of the pan has a small lip around the outer edge, and this made it almost impossible to get under the edge of the parchment paper.
When I finally did get under and tried to lift the cake, it started to break in that area. I stopped.
So, now I had to try and remove a slice by making sure I cut it right up to that lip on the pan. That didn’t work so well either. Hmmm.
I had to remove the first slice in a couple of parts. After that, the next slice came out pretty easy.
I’ll work on this the next time. Smile.
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Banana Pudding Cheesecake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 slices 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Follow our step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe to make this unique dessert. We’ve combined the flavors of a Southern Banana Pudding to make this delicious cheesecake with a Vanilla Wafer crust. It’s much easier to make than you might think.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 ½ cups Vanilla Wafer Cookies, crushed
- 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
For the cheesecake:
- 3 Bananas, large and ripe
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
- 3 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
- 3 8oz packages Cream Cheese
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
- 3 large Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Place the vanilla wafers in a large freezer type bag. Use a rolling pin to crush them into crumbs.
- In a medium mixing bowl, prepare the crust.
- Add crushed Vanilla Wafers.
- Add sugar.
- Add Ground Cinnamon.
- Stir together until well blended.
- Add melted Butter
- Stir together until all crumbs are well coated.
- Lightly spray the inside of your pan.
- Coat inside edges with sugar.
- Press mixture into bottom of a greased and sugared 9 inch springform pan.
- Place in oven. Bake for 8 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
Prepare the filling.
- Place bananas in small sauce pan.
- Add lemon juice.
- Mash together until mixture is smooth.
- Stir in brown sugar.
- Cook mixture over Medium heat for about one minute, or until sugar is fully dissolved
- In a large mixing bowl, add the cream cheese.
- Beat about 3 minutes, or until smooth.
- Gradually add granulated sugar, beating again until smooth and well blended.
- Add corn starch, beat again until blended.
- Add vanilla.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing just until yellow disappears after each addition.
- Gently fold the banana mixture into the cream cheese mixture.
- Gently pour the filling on top of prepared crust.
Reduce oven heat to 300F degrees.
- Bake at 300F degrees for 60-80 minutes, or until cake is done.
- Cheesecake is done when the middle is almost set, but still wiggles a bit when pan is slightly moved.
- Turn off oven. Crack open oven door. Let cheesecake sit in oven until completely cooled.
- Cover cheesecake when cooled. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight if possible.
- Remove cheesecake from pan.
- Slice. Serve. Enjoy!
Notes
Butter, Cream Cheese and Eggs should be at room temperature before starting.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
While this cheesecake is pretty simple to prepare, it does need to be refrigerated for 6 hours in order to properly firm up. It’s even better if you can refrigerate it overnight.
Keywords: Banana Pudding Cheesecake Recipe, cheesecake, southern banana pudding, made from scratch, southern recipes
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Your Comments: Have you ever made a cheesecake? I’d love to hear your thoughts on our recipe. It will only take a minute or two for you to leave your comments in the section below.
Just remember, all comments are moderated. That just means that I personally read each and everyone before they are approved for viewing on our family friendly website. Thank you in advance for sharing.
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Be Blessed!!!
Steve
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Category: Desserts
Steve? Why not name it Ricky’s or Col Wicker’s Banana Pudding Cheesecake, so a piece of your friend and the fellowship he shared with you and your towns-kin, will live on? I know that every time you look at this recipe you’re going to think of him, just like we all do every time we make a beloved passed down recipe or use a dish we inherited. Maybe those cherished recipes and China is just another way God gives us a bit of eternal life here on earth? Through the memories in our our hearts, love lives on. Just a thought. Be blessed. Robin
Hi Robin, Naming it after the Colonel would have been a good idea. He would have probably liked that. Thank you for your comments. I greatly appreciate them. It’s amazing how powerful a recipe from a loved one can be. Right? Thanks for stopping by, and I trust you’ll visit with us again… real soon. Be Blessed!!! -Steve
Sounds so good, Steve. Will make this. We miss seeing you at the auction!!!
Hi Steve, I’ve never made a cheesecake before, this one looks easy enough. I may make it. {have to buy a pan first} I am sorry to hear about your friend. I always liked hearing about your auction finds and friends. Maybe someone else will open up an auction house. It is a good place to go on weekends to talk with friends and meet new ones. As always I look forward to your newsletters and recipes. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Doris, I do hope you’ll give our Banana Pudding Cheesecake recipe a try. I think you might like it. I’m also happy that you get our Newsletters. Thank you for signing up for it. Yes, we’re in hopes someone else will be opening another auction house in the near future. There are others close by, but there was just something special about this one. Maybe it’s because I had been going to it each weekend for the past 6-7 years. Thank you for your comments. I do appreciate you stopping by and trust you’ll visit with us again… real soon. Be Blessed!!! -Steve
Hi! I can certainly empathize with you about the passing of your friend. I had an old friend (childhood) just drop dead last week. We were just shocked. He was not ill, was on vacation, and died after eating lunch. It is so hard to lose a friend. We just could not comprehend, as it was so sudden. You must have felt the same way. On a happier note, I am so making this cheesecake this week. I love banana everything! One note, though. I have made many cheesecakes. My favorite is a pumpkin cheesecake. I was told that you had to whip and whip the batter in a stand mixer, hopefully. The more you whip, the lighter it becomes. I think heavy cheesecakes are awful. They land like lead in my stomach! I’m going to make it my way and see what happens. I’m not so sure that air is bad. I’m going to try banana extract too, as you suggested. I’ll let you know. Have a delightful week!
Hi Alene, I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your friend as well. It’s always sad to loose a loved one.
I had read the same thing you were saying about making the cheesecake lighter by whipping it more. I do hope if you try the recipe “your way,” that you’ll let me know how that turns out for you. When I make it again, I’m going to try that myself just to see what happens. As mentioned, this was my first cheesecake. If you’ve made lots of them, you’re probably right about that. I appreciate your comments, and I trust you’ll visit with us again… real soon. Be Blessed!!! -Steve
So sorry for several things: Ricky’s death, the end of the fellowship at the auction, that you might have regrets for not getting the photo of your Ford to Ricky sooner, and not being able to share the Banana Pudding Cheesecake with him.
Thank you for sharing this with us. Prayers for you and the family.
Hi Joy Lynn, Thank you for your kind words. We’ve got our fingers crossed that another friend will be opening an auction house in the near future. We’ll just have to wait and see on that. I appreciate your comments and happy that you receive our Newsletter. I appreciate all of your support and hope that you’ll continue to visit with us here at Taste of Southern. Be Blessed!!! -Steve
Note: Joy Lynn is referring to some comments that were made in my weekly Newsletter.
Steve, never throw out bananas. If you are not in the mood to make bread or muffins, just put them in the freezer and then make smoothies or a fruit drink. You know how!!!
Hi Steve,
You began your newsletter by saying you didn’t want us to feel sad. I am really sad, but I’m glad you shared this with us. I realized the auction was a big part of your life, but I didn’t realize the man who ran it was such a close friend of yours. I can certainly empathize with you because I lost my very best friend of 35 years last year. She was only 64 (much younger than I) and died just three months after her cancer was diagnosed. We were so close, I feel like a part of me died also. My sincere condolences to you on your loss.
Your recipe this week looks interesting. I will have to try it since I love cheesecake and banana pudding naturally being from NC. I have a recipe for cheesecake that I’ve been using for many, many years. It calls for only one 8 oz. package of cream cheese and one cup of cottage cheese. It appealed to me because at that time, I could only afford to buy one package of cream cheese at a time. Now I can afford to buy as many as I want but I continue to use this recipe because we all love it. Let me know if you’d like to try it.
Hi Shirley, Thank you for your words of kindness. I’m also sorry to hear about the loss of your friend.
I’d love to give your recipe a try. I do want to try some other cheesecakes, after all, I’ve already got the pan now. Smile. If you’ll share the recipe, and give your permission to post it, I’ll do my best to try it. How’s that?
I thank you for your support of Taste of Southern. It’s always great to hear from you, and I’m glad you subscribe to the Newsletter. I hope you’ll visit with us again… real soon. Be Blessed!!! -Steve
Steve,
The banana pudding cheesecake looks delicious. I will definitely make it sooner rather than later!
Have you tried to freeze your too ripe bananas and thaw them for banana nut bread. Works great. Just be sure to have them room temp mashed well when you add them into the recipe. They will make the melted butter seize and you will have a mess or little holes in the cake because of the lumps of butter or margarine.
I heard from a friend that monkeys always peel the banana from the bottom and not the handle end. They don’t like phloem either I take it,
Thanks for a great website with lots of good humor and wonderful recipes!
Bob Christian
Hi Bob, I love Banana Nut Bread and muffins. I have frozen some of the bananas in the past, but I would end up with more than I would ever use if I froze all the bad ones. Just have to teach myself to not buy more than a couple of them at a time. I’m doing better at it. Smile.
It’s tough learning that I’ve been peeling bananas wrong all of my life. How about you?
Thank you for your kind comments. I’m thankful you’ve found Taste of Southern, and I do hope you’ll stop by again… real soon. Be Blessed!!! –
Steve
Thanks so much! That looks delicious!
Ever tried slicing those almost too ripe bananas really thin and freezing them individually on parchment paper?
Make a super snack when you eat them frozen.
That is a brilliant suggestion, Dolores! I found a package of frozen bananas dipped in chocolate once but were ridiculously expensive and made of huge pieces. I figured I could do that, and just a frozen slice dipped in chocolate and let harden is many less calories and enough to satisfy two cravings! Chocolate and sweets!
Thank you for mentioning it.
I will have to try your banana pudding cheesecake considering hubby likes banana pudding and I love cheesecake.
On another note, I’m sorry about the passing of your friend. He sounded like a good egg. going up for his family.
Hi Josie, Thank you for your words of kindness. It’s greatly appreciated. I do hope you’ll try the recipe. Please let me know how it turns out for you. I’ll look forward to hearing from you. I’m thankful you’ve found Taste of Southern, and I do hope you’ll visit with us again… real soon. Be Blessed!!! -Steve