Jamie Oliver Banana Panettone Pudding

Jamie Oliver’s banana panettone pudding is torn panettone, sliced banana and chopped Medjool dates baked in a clementine and vanilla custard. A sticky toffee sauce goes over the top, and it serves 12, from his book Together (2021).

It’s a festive cross between bread and butter pudding and sticky toffee pudding. The butter isn’t spread on bread: Jamie mashes it with sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, then whisks the eggs, milk and clementine juice straight into it.

The make-or-break moment is the caramel. You melt the sugar with a splash of water until it turns chestnut brown, swirling the pan but never stirring. Then stand back, because the cream makes it bubble up hard.

Jamie Oliver Banana Panettone Pudding

Recipe by Pinch Perfect

5.0 from 1 vote

Course: Dessert, SnacksCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Calories

363

kcal

Total time

1

hour 

10

minutes

A Christmas pudding for a crowd from Together: panettone, banana and dates baked in one shallow dish, finished with a homemade caramel sauce. Feeds twelve, and it can be assembled ahead.

Ingredients

• 65g soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

• ground cinnamon

• 200g golden caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

• 3 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

• 3 large free-range eggs

• 3 clementines

• 600ml semi-skimmed milk

• optional: smooth whisky, brandy, golden rum

• 4 bananas

• 150g Medjool dates

• 500g (1 lb 2 oz) panettone

• 15g flaked almonds

• 150ml single cream

• vanilla ice cream, to serve

prime30 days freeMissing an ingredient?✓ Free fast delivery   ✓ Cancel anytimeTry Prime freeUnderlined ingredients link to Amazon UK. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Directions

• Make the custard: In a large bowl, mash 50g of the butter with a pinch of cinnamon, 50g of the sugar and the vanilla paste. Crack in the eggs, squeeze in the clementine juice, add the milk and whisk together. Add a splash of smooth whisky, brandy or golden rum at this point, if you like.
• Add the fruit and panettone: Peel and finely slice the bananas, destone and finely chop the dates, then tear in the panettone in random pieces. Mix everything together really well
• Fill the dish: Grease a 25cm shallow baking dish with a little butter and pour in the mixture. Sprinkle over the almonds and a pinch of cinnamon.
• Bake: Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Bake for 40 minutes, until golden and bubbling, then rest for 10 minutes while you make the sauce.
• Make the caramel: Put the remaining 150g of sugar in a small non-stick frying pan with 50ml of water. Melt on a medium heat to a chestnut-brown caramel, swirling the pan now and then but not touching it.
• Finish the sauce: Stand back and whisk in the cream until smooth, as it will bubble vigorously. Then whisk in the remaining 15g of butter.
• Serve: Pour the sauce over the pudding, or decant it into a jug for pouring at the table. Great with vanilla ice cream.

Notes

• (get ahead): Jamie says you can prep the pudding to the end of step 3, then cover and set aside until you’re ready to bake it.
• (celebration roast): Jamie serves this as the finale of a celebration roast with smoked salmon oat blinis, an epic mixed roast, a veggie crown, amazing hasselback potatoes, fennel gratin and veggie gravy.
• (allergens): Contains eggs, dairy, gluten (panettone) and nuts (almonds), plus optional alcohol.

FAQs

How is this different from a classic sticky toffee pudding?

A classic sticky toffee pudding is a date sponge made with flour and bicarbonate of soda. James Martin’s sticky toffee pudding, for example, blitzes the dates with boiling water into a purée before they go into the batter.

Jamie skips the sponge entirely. There’s no flour or raising agent, because the panettone does that job, soaking up the custard while the chopped dates stay in sticky little pockets. The result is softer and more custardy in the middle, with a crisp golden top.

Why is the sauce made with caster sugar instead of muscovado?

Most sticky toffee sauces get their darkness from the sugar itself. Nigella’s sticky toffee pudding melts dark muscovado with black treacle, butter and cream, with no caramelising at all.

Jamie builds the flavour by cooking golden caster sugar into a real caramel, so the colour you reach is the flavour you get. Pale gold tastes only sweet, while chestnut brown brings that deep toffee edge. Push past it towards black and it turns bitter.

Can I use stale panettone?

Jamie doesn’t say, so this is our advice: slightly stale panettone is ideal. Drier pieces drink up the custard without collapsing into mush, which is the same logic behind any good bread pudding.

Leftover panettone from a gift box is perfect here, so this is a natural use for the one that’s been open since Christmas Eve. Tear it into uneven chunks, as Jamie says, so you get a mix of soft and crisp bits.

Should I add the whisky, brandy or rum?

It’s entirely optional, and Jamie leaves it as a splash, added to the custard before the fruit goes in. Golden rum is especially good with banana, while brandy feels the most Christmassy.

With twelve servings, this often feeds a mixed table, children included. Our suggestion is to leave it out when you’re unsure, because the vanilla, clementine and cinnamon carry plenty of flavour without it.

How do I time it for a dinner party?

Jamie’s get-ahead note means the pudding can sit assembled in its dish before guests arrive. That leaves just 40 minutes in the oven, so it can bake while everyone eats the main course.

The caramel is the one job that has to be done at the last minute. It fits neatly into the 10-minute rest, so the sauce goes on hot as the pudding comes to the table.

What should I serve before it at Christmas?

It’s rich, so it suits a meal where the main is the star. Jamie’s roast venison with Barolo and chocolate sauce serves a crowd, just like this pudding, which makes them an easy pair.

If you’d rather end on something lighter, his no-bake fig tart is the opposite approach. There are more festive ideas on the Jamie Oliver recipes page.