'Like tiramisu': How banana pudding started trending in Singapore

When it comes to desserts, Singaporeans often pride themselves on restraint. "Not too sweet" is the ultimate compliment and sugar is best served with a side of funk: bitter, sour, even umami.

Yet, banana pudding - famous for its unadulterated layers of cream, sugar and general decadence - has somehow found purchase among this community of self-professed moderates.

It became something of a cafe staple earlier in 2025, with indie establishments like Haus Coffee in Golden Mile Tower - where the dessert was introduced in February - leading the charge.

Soon enough, it was popping up at cafes across the island and percolating through social media, with virality begetting more virality.

"I keep seeing videos of banana pudding on my FYP (for you page) so you know I had to make my version," wrote a Singapore-based home baker whose handle is @mizartlane on TikTok. Since June, she has racked up over a million views on a video of her banana pudding.

But how did this indulgent American classic wend its way into the minds and bellies of Singaporean diners? Is it here to stay? Or is this trend, like the banana itself, fated to ripen and rot quickly?

"Like tiramisu"

Though associated with the American South - where it often features at picnics, family reunions and barbecues - the origins of banana pudding are surprisingly cosmopolitan.

Inspired by the English trifle and made with a crop imported from the Caribbean and Central America, it first appeared in recipe form in an 1888 edition of Good Housekeeping, a magazine from the north-eastern state of Massachusetts.

Since then, it has undergone a century and a half's worth of revisions, as traced by American food writer Robert Moss in an article for US-based recipe website Serious Eats. Sponge cake has been replaced by ladyfingers, then vanilla wafers. Whipped cream once made way for meringue. Tapioca was, in some cases, used in place of custard.

The defining modern banana pudding is perhaps the cult favourite found at New York City chain Magnolia Bakery, a fluffy confection of heavy cream, vanilla wafers, pudding mix and, of course, fresh bananas.

This is the version Singaporean baker and cafe owner Siti Nurhayati Rahim, 30, had in mind when she started experimenting with the dessert in 2020.

At the time, her older sister was craving the banana pudding she had tried in a Dubai branch of Magnolia Bakery. Despite never having tasted the pudding themselves, Ms Siti and her brother tried to satisfy their sister's craving, relying on her to judge the accuracy of their recreation.

The recipe for the bakery's famous product is an open secret, available in its More From Magnolia cookbook, published in 2004, as well as on websites like Food Network.

Just six ingredients are required: condensed milk, cold water, instant vanilla pudding mix, heavy cream, Nabisco Nilla Wafers and ripe bananas. But obtaining those ingredients in Singapore and making sure they were all halal-friendly proved an unexpected challenge.

"We didn't want to rely on pre-mixes as supply chains can sometimes be unpredictable. So, we wanted to hedge against cases where a key component was suddenly not available," says Ms Siti, who makes jello and vanilla wafers from scratch.

She also wanted to be able to control the sweetness of the pudding. "The funny thing is that I finally visited Magnolia Bakery three years after we launched our product in Singapore. And when I had it, I was very surprised at how much sweeter it was. I'd say compared with the US version, ours is lighter and not as sweet, so you can eat a larger portion."

She started selling her product under the brand Okieco - an anagram of "cookie" because all their products have cookies - that same year for $12.50 a pint. While social media and word of mouth kept a decent number of orders rolling in - she received 220 orders over four weekends during Okieco's first month of operations - it was still a long way from mainstream popularity.

"Five years ago, there wasn't the whole viral trend like there is now. It was still relatively new, so people didn't know what the pudding was supposed to taste like. When they think about pudding, they usually think about those jelly cups. So, they were surprised when ours didn't have that texture," she recalls.

"We had to communicate and share more about the product because there were a lot of misconceptions. We didn't want people to think that they had been given the wrong product."

Though it took some time, she is not surprised banana pudding is finally enjoying its moment in the sun. Likening it to tiramisu - another creamy cake that has secured its spot on the dessert menu - she says it appeals to the Singaporean penchant for light and fluffy food.

Bananas are also a familiar fruit, and local communities have a long tradition of incorporating them into cakes and other desserts. So, in Ms Siti's view, Singaporeans were less resistant to giving her pudding a shot.

East meets West

But a rising tide does not always lift all boats, and the heightened demand for banana pudding has not yielded massive spikes in sales for the company that arguably started it all in Singapore.

She now fulfils around 35 orders a day, up from the 15 to 30 daily total five years ago. However, the average spending has dropped since 2020, with customers opting mainly for single small pints.

Ms Siti concedes that though interest and visibility have increased, the missing addition of one ingredient prevents Okieco from taking full advantage of the trend. Hint: It is an increasingly ubiquitous shade of green.

"I think because we're not hopping on the matcha banana pudding trend, our sales are not as high as they could be," she says.

The two cafes she runs - Gomgom at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, and Snappy Bowls at Singapore Management University, both of which stock Okieco's banana pudding - now get more walk-in customers looking for banana pudding matcha latte. This has been popularised by cafes like Haus Coffee and Creamie Sippies, a cafe with outlets in Keong Saik Road and Jalan Bukit Merah.

"We have to disappoint them and say we don't have that. But we have the original," she quips. Customers have to make do with buying her banana pudding ($13.50 to $15) and matcha latte ($5.90) separately.

She chose not to fuse the two because the textural variety of the hybrid did not sit right with her. "Matcha is a drink. Then you have the banana pudding, which has an eggy, creamy, cake-like texture. And to me, it just doesn't fit. I cannot, in good conscience, sell a product I don't believe in."

Mr Dale Thia feels the same way. The 36-year-old is the co-founder of local pastry supplier Wunderfolks, which runs cafes in estates like Tampines and Choa Chu Kang, and has opted out of the matcha banana pudding trend.

"If I want a beverage, I will go for a pure drink. If I want a dessert, I will probably go for a cake or a tart," he says.

To other cafe owners, however, matcha and banana pudding are a match made in foodie heaven - and one that might explain the pudding's sudden popularity. It may very well have ridden the wave of matcha mania all the way to the top of many a For You Page.

In the words of Ms Flora Cheong, 31, founder of Creamie Sippies: "The natural nuttiness and umami of Uji matcha balance beautifully with the creaminess and sweetness of banana pudding. It makes the dessert feel less heavy while adding a distinct Japanese-inspired twist that our customers really love."

At her cafe, banana pudding matcha lattes, which sell for $9.90+ a cup, are just as popular as the pudding itself, which costs $7.90+. She says customers usually start with the latte before adding another plate of pudding to enjoy the dessert in its purest form.

Ms Alexan Tang, 23, founder of SugarBelly, a store at Jewel Changi Airport selling mochi doughnuts and matcha on tap, describes banana pudding as "fresh yet comforting".

When it caught her eye overseas, she had a hunch it would pair beautifully with her Japanese-inspired offerings. She ran a limited-time self-serve, all-you-can-fill banana pudding matcha promotion in April and May, charging $6.90 a cup.

"We noticed it was beginning to trend locally around the same time we were finalising our recipe, so it felt like the right moment to launch," she says. "Customers tell us it's unlike any banana pudding they've had. It's not jelak (a Malay word used to describe overwhelmingly rich foods) and with our creamy and gao (thick in Hokkien) matcha latte, it's a pairing you'll keep coming back for more of."

At All Hands, a cafe opening in Telok Ayer at the end of October, banana pudding will be the star of the show. Instead of being left to drown in a cup of matcha, it sits pretty in the centre of the bowl, ringed by a green moat lapping gently at its edges. Each serving costs $6.49++.

Executive chef Carlos Gan, 29, says he wanted to flip the script on the way this dish is typically presented in cafes. "That's the kind of fun we want to have at All Hands - taking familiar things and giving them a twist. The Matcha Banana Pudding fits perfectly with our concept of playful, eye-catching creations that surprise you but still feel comforting and delicious."

And if the unconventional presentation were not enough, his banana pudding is also infused with pandan for extra aromatic oomph.

Because stagnation often heralds death in Singapore's merciless food scene, brands like Okieco and Two Bake Boys, a cafe in Balestier specialising in crepe cakes, have played around with different flavours too.

The latter has a catalogue stocked with modish infusions - its pistachio kunafa banana pudding ($13) is just so achingly 2025.

"I sell desserts for the whole family, not just an individual. So, we have a variety of flavours because not everyone likes the same thing," says Ms Kittiya Ratanajirasas, 40, co-founder of Two Bake Boys.

Bestsellers include kid-friendly toppings like Biscoff, as well as cookies and cream. She has also received a few requests for banana pudding without bananas.

"I understand them," she admits with a laugh. "When I was vegetarian, I used to go to the chicken rice store and say, 'Uncle, I want to eat chicken rice. No chicken, just egg and tofu, can or not?'"

Empathy led her to her durian pudding recipe, made by layering durian custard, puree and Biscoff crumbs. It retails for $20, $7 more than a pint of banana pudding ($13 for all flavours).

Limited shelf life

Despite her success - she consistently sells out all 1,000 tubs up for grabs from Thursdays to Sundays - Ms Ratanajirasas says she is growing bored of banana pudding.

She estimates that the trend will peter out soon, and has already decreased her weekly output from 1,000 tubs to as few as 400 in recent weeks. A couple of limited-edition Christmas flavours will round off her foray into this corner of confectionery before she reassesses the viability of the product in January.

Mr Thia is similarly cautious about the future of banana pudding in Singapore, and has no plans to add it to Wunderfolks' catalogue. This is his verdict: "I feel like it is one of those trends that gets very hot in a short period of time and leaves in the blink of an eye. Not because it's not nice, but because of Singaporeans' interest in newer products."

He points out past examples of mochi and salt bun, once ubiquitous and now largely consigned to the culinary rear-view mirror. "Banana pudding didn't even reach that level of virality. It's very concentrated on that younger crowd of people, mainly those in university or young working adults. But it never really expanded into the mainstream."

For now, though, demand at cafes like Creamie Sippies, SugarBelly and July's Cloud has held steady.

"While the 'trend' effect may taper off over time, we see banana pudding becoming a staple rather than just a passing fad because customers keep coming back for it," says Ms Tang.

It helps that many home-based businesses are fuelling curiosity about this dessert, adds Ms Hazel Tan, 27, manager of July's Cloud. She sells 10 to 20 cups a day, costing upwards of $5 each. She considers the response "great", though it has slowed from the 25 or so cups she churned out daily at the peak of the craze in May to July.

Undeterred by the surge in competition, Ms Siti chooses to see the proliferation of businesses offering banana pudding as a good thing. "It's great that this thing we've been making for so long is now more accessible to people," she adds.

Although she does not think banana pudding alone has the pull needed to sustain a store, and is therefore hesitant to open a physical space under the Okieco brand, she will not give up on it.

"Some places might just be doing it as a trend and might stop after a while, but we're here for the long run. We're always going to serve this dessert we really like and enjoy. Even after the virality wears off, we're still here to stay."

Where to get banana pudding in Singapore

Okieco

What: Banana pudding fashioned after the cult-favourite offering from New York's Magnolia Bakery. They come in four flavours - Classic, Choc Fudge, Speculoos, Peanut Butter & Jelly - and are sold by the pint. Prices start at $13.50 for a 16oz Classic tub, while a bundle of six mini cups costs $38 to $40. Where: Order online or find it in stores at Gomgom, 01-202A, Building 2, SUTD, 8 Somapah Road; and Snappy Bowls, 01-71, SMU School of Economics, 90 Stamford Road Available: Order by 4pm the day before Info: www.okieco.sg/online-store

Two Bake Boys

What: Pick from a range of trendy flavours, from tiramisu to matcha banana pudding. These pints swop out the traditional vanilla wafers for crushed cookies, Biscoff, coffee-soaked biscuits or kunafa strands. Each 270g portion costs $13. You can also get five tubs for $52. Where: Order online and pick up from 03-09/K2 Shaw Plaza, 360 Balestier Road Available: From Thursdays to Sundays Info: twobakeboys.com

July's Cloud

What: This creamy treat from July's Cloud is made with fresh Cavendish bananas and crumbled Biscoff cookies. A cup of banana pudding costs $5. When added to a matcha latte, prices start at $9.90. Where: 01-23 Joo Seng Green, 2 Upper Aljunied Lane Open: Noon to 9pm, Tuesdays to Sundays Info: @julyscloud on Instagram

Creamie Sippies

What: This banana pudding is made with mascarpone cheese, which is intended to give it a richer, creamier texture. It also eschews instant pudding mix or gelatin to reach as wide an audience as possible. French vanilla enhances the dessert's fragrance, while crushed Biscoff chunks add crunch. The pudding costs $7.90+ on its own and retails for $9.90+ in matcha latte form. Where: 01-01, 31 Keong Saik Road and 01-4432, 7 Jalan Bukit Merah Open: Various timings Info: creamiesippies.com

All Hands Cafe

What: Beouf Steakhouse is rebranding as All Hands, a cafe at the same location. Executive chef Carlos Gan and his team want to maintain Beouf's reputation for quality desserts and have added a pandan-infused matcha banana pudding to the menu ($6.49++). It comes as a complimentary dessert with every main ordered during the cafe's soft-opening week from Oct 28 to Nov 5. Redemptions are limited to one a person. Where: 159 Telok Ayer Street Open: 8am to 5pm Info: @allhands.cafe on Instagram