5 Classic Southern Desserts That Still Taste Amazing Today | Allrecipes

Pull up a chair and save room for dessert because I'm serving up the most iconic sweets of the South. I've got five of the best dessert recipes that have been bringing families together for generations. Starting off with my family recipe and the most popular Southern dessert of all time, banana pudding. What's great about banana pudding is that it is a year-round dessert. You can serve it at the holidays, but it travels all the way through the summertime in every potluck. I created this recipe based on my grandmother's recipe. When I was trying to ask her her recipe, she was all over the place. Wait a minute, Nicole. My mind is a B-L-A-N-K. So I had to hone it in, and I think I came up with the best creation. This nanner pudding starts with a homemade custard. Don't be scared. A lot of times when people see recipes like that, you automatically wanna shut down because you'd rather open the box of jelly pudding mix. Not today. It is made with pantry staples, and I'm gonna show you just how easy it is. Starts with sugar, and then you're gonna whisk in a little flour and a little bit of salt because we know that a little pinch of salt and everything sweet just makes it better. And then you just whisk in some milk. And what's good about this is you can pronounce every ingredient so far. And you just wanna whisk it so you don't get any clumps. And then we just bring this mixture up to a simmer, stirring frequently just until all that sugar dissolves and it heats up. So far, this is a cooking 101 situation. As it starts to come up to temperature, you'll notice that it starts to thicken. This is where the magic happens. This is what turns this into pudding custard is you gotta add some egg. So I've just got four egg yolks in here. Now, my grandmother would take the whites and make a meringue for the top, which is very Southern and very classic. I don't happen to love meringue, okay? I'll admit it. I like a rich but light whipped cream topping. So that's what we're gonna make. You can't just whisk eggs and throw them in or you'll end up with scrambled eggs. You have to temper the eggs. That means bring the temperature up before you add it in. That way it's not such a shock and they don't scramble. So to do that, we're gonna take a little of the hot mixture and add it to our egg yolks and whisk. Just like a little bit at a time. That way you don't end up with scrambled eggs. You also wanna make sure your heat's not up too high or you'll end up with a bunch of sticky flour on the bottom of your pot. All in all, about a cup of the mixture. Add it to your egg. And now I can feel in this bowl that the egg mixture is warm and you can see it's already getting really good and thick and the egg is going to thicken it even further. And it's gonna give you that vanilla yellow color. And now this is just gonna cook for a few more minutes just to be sure we get all that floury taste out. Three to five minutes at this point and you're good to go. See how we're doing, how it's coating that spoon? And as it cools, it will thicken even further. The old chef trick. Gotta make a vanilla pudding so add in a little vanilla extract. Little trick we do and this is what sets this custard apart from anything that comes out of a box. At the very end, add in a tablespoon or two of cold butter. This just takes the flavor up a notch and adds a little bit of richness. This alone could be dessert. At this point, I just like it to cool for about 10 minutes or so before we pour it out. Vanilla wafers and bananas, create your layers. Now I have seen some people make banana pudding without even putting bananas in it. I mean, while we know the vanilla wafers are the star of the show, you still gotta put the bananas in it. But definitely more wafers than bananas. Cover the bottom first with vanilla wafers and I like to do a square dish and make it thicker. This was my grandfather's favorite dessert so my grandmother made it all the time. How many bananas you use is up to you and it sometimes depends on the size of the banana. You know the drill. Try to do three to four layers. Also, this is my son's favorite dessert. Banana pudding is the most popular southern dessert according to my research on the internet and according to an article I read about what chefs consider the most southern dessert. So it had to be included, even if you have seen me make it before. Okay, this is a dessert you know you have to make a little bit ahead of time because we need those vanilla wafers to soften and turn into the cake and the best part. Got our custard. It is still hot but it's not like boiling hot. Over we go. It will work its way into the nooks and crannies. Look at that beauty. I like to kind of help it get settled amongst the layers. Then you're gonna cover it with some plastic. If you don't cover it, it'll get a little skin on it from the pudding. All right and then you pop it into the fridge to set. You wanna go at least four hours. Even better if you can go eight hours or overnight but at least four hours will do the trick. You know the drill when it comes to whipped cream. While you might see me break out the Cool Whip on occasion, this really is easy and better. It's just heavy cream. I get it going and then I add in a little powdered sugar. Okay, you wanna go to soft peaks. You don't wanna take it too far. It can go from perfect to too far in like 10 seconds. That's what you want. Vanilla pudding time. Okay, it's all set. I'm gonna add on our whipped cream. I like to just pile it on and make it fluffy because you know if you like the meringue on here, it's always cloud-like. I still wanna give it that look but with a little more creaminess. Usually there's crumbs at the bottom of the bag and that's what you wanna sprinkle on top. That's my ideal garnish just to get people excited. My favorite and what I think is the best banana pudding there ever was thanks to Mama's inspiration. Let me just see if it's as good as I remember. And that vanilla wafer just softens and absorbs all that flavor from the vanilla pudding. It's the best banana pudding. Reminds me of all of the Southern cafeterias and meet and threes when they have the homemade banana pudding. Tell you it's one of the best things ever. If you love Texas sheet cake, you're gonna love this next one. Coca-Cola cake. That's how you say it in the South, Coca-Cola. Nothing like the real thing. What was that, Pepsi? In this bowl I've got a couple cups of flour and to that I'm gonna add in a couple cups of sugar. All right, then we gotta get the Coca-Cola part going on the stove. This is similar when you're making a Texas sheet cake or other chocolate cakes. You usually combine liquid or butter with cocoa powder and that gets the chocolate flavor infused into the rest of the cake. I've got a cup of butter in here and to that I'm gonna add in some cocoa powder and the star of the show, a cup of Coca-Cola. And I'm just gonna cook this together until it becomes one uniform mixture. This has all come together. Now we just stir this into our dry ingredients. I've been reading a couple novels that are set kind of during the time of the Depression but they always have Coca-Cola. So it has been around. Now we go with the remaining ingredients. Some buttermilk, a couple eggs, some baking soda. This is gonna react with that buttermilk and a splash of vanilla. And then you just mix and we're gonna pour it into our pan. So this just comes together in a nine by 13 that I've lightly greased. Texas sheet cake is one of my favorite cakes. And this I feel like I'm gonna love just as much. This goes into the oven 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean. That'll be about 40 minutes. Don't lose track of time because we have to make the frosting and the frosting has to go on the cake while it's still hot. Crap, crap, crap. Nicole forgot the marshmallows. It's not too late. Stir marshmallows into the batter. I just saw these marshmallows sitting here. I said, where were those supposed to go? Just got so excited. Everything's fine, people, everything's fine. These are going to bake and melt into the cake. Let's try that again. Cake's almost done so I'm gonna make the frosting. Starts out just like the mixture for the cake did. Butter, cocoa powder, and the cola. Who else used to say Coca-Cola? I think that's what my grandfather used to say. Bring me a Coca-Cola. The Coke versus just adding water or something is gonna add more sweetness, more richness, and just more flavor in general. And that's why those bakers back then used to use it. Then we're gonna take our hot mixture and stir it into the powdered sugar. Feel like I bet you could do this cake with Dr. Pepper or Cherry Cup too. That'd be good. Stir in some chopped pecans. I don't like nuts in my brownies, but in a Texas sheet cake, I do kinda like it because the cake is so fudgy and melts in your mouth that having this little bit of texture in there is kinda nice. So our frosting, now we're gonna spread it over the cake while it's warm. It says hot, but I really do like to let it sit for a few minutes. Otherwise, when you pour the frosting on, it just kinda all falls to the side. Frosting on this cake, it's just like fudge. It kinda has that crystallized sugar taste. While you do wanna spread this on while the cake is hot, you don't really wanna cut it yet. You want it to set. It's just another waiting game. That's the only thing about baking. I tell you what, there's a lot of waiting. And the frosting does kinda harden quickly, which is another reason why you wanna do it warm. So once it sets, it is set. Mm, this is gonna be so hard picking a favorite dessert today. Can't deny that this is a moist cake. The way that frosting kinda crackles on top, my jaws started doing that thing where they just kind of tingle because they're so excited. Look at that. I feel like you can taste it. Coca-Cola might've been the genius move here. Mm! All right, you're making this look too good. Oh, oh! You're making it look too good. Girl. Are you ready? I am now. She loves, this girl loves a cake. Yeah. What do you do? Yeah, that's what we do. And it tastes good. Proper bite. I'll cut you a piece. Too good. Thank you. The Coca-Cola cake is indeed a gift from our southern grandmothers. You're gonna wanna make this one. What do you think of when you hear the word divinity? Divinity candy is what we are making next. When I'm thinking of old, classic, vintage southern desserts, this is it. And this brings the nostalgia for me and maybe for you. My mom loves divinity, and I remember when she used to try to make it, and it would just always be that she's concerned about whatever the weather was. Because you cannot make this on a hot and humid day. A rainy day, forget about it. It can be a little finicky. But I just thought this was a great one to add. You can make a lot for not a lot of money. It's all pantry stables. And with the holidays coming up, this might make the perfect food gift or just a little something sweet to bring out at the end of your dinners. Starting with a couple cups of sugar. In case you've never had or heard of divinity candy, it is similar to nougat, but it is less chewy and less dense. It literally melts in your mouth, and it's little like clouds of sugar. So the story is when someone tasted it, they just said how divine it was. Heavenly. I give to you divinity. So to the sugar, some light corn syrup, and then a half a cup of hot water and a little bit of salt. You do need a thermometer for this because we need to get it to the soft ball stage, which is about 260 degrees. You don't wanna stir it too much because you don't want the sugar to build up along the sides of your pot. Same situation when you're making another great Southern classic. I just couldn't do them all. If y'all like this and wanna see more recipes, more Southern desserts, let me know. I'm just gonna bring this up to a simmer, stirring gently occasionally. The sugar's gonna dissolve, and we're going to boil it until it reaches 255 to 60 degrees. And before that comes to temperature, you wanna go ahead and start beating egg whites. You're starting with almost like a meringue, so you're just going to whip some egg whites until they have stiff peaks, and once that hits temperature, you're gonna slowly drizzle it into the egg whites. I mean, this whole dessert is sugar and egg whites. You've got that. We are gonna give it the Southern, extra Southern twist by adding in some pecans, but we'll get to that. I'm just gonna get this whipping. It doesn't have to be all the way high because I don't want it to get too far ahead. I want them to kinda come together about the same time. When you're about at stiff peaks, now is the time to drizzle in our hot syrup. This whole process should take a couple minutes before you even get it all in, so you've gotta go super slow. It's gonna go at least five minutes or so until those egg whites start to lose their sheen. Once the sugar liquid's all in, you can crank it up. If you're finding that you're having a hard time for this setting up, you can add in a little powdered sugar, like a half a tablespoon at a time. I have a little bit of runniness because it is kind of humid and about to rain outside. We're gonna blame that, and we're just gonna go for it. Now, this is a sticky situation, pun intended. All right, so you wanna take two spoons, and you're going to put little dollops on a wax paper or parchment paper lined sheet. Okay, so they look like little clouds, and they're holding their shape pretty well, so we're in a pretty good spot. If you do a little test run and you see that it starts flattening out really quickly, then you need to whip some more. While they are still moist, I'm adding in some pecans on the top. This really adds the southern flair. People have done other flavors, like you could do lemon, or you could do like dried fruits in here, or you can just leave them plain, but the little crunch that's like a hint salty with all of this just sugar is so delightful and kind of the perfect bite of dessert. Once you start scooping, you do kind of have to act fast because it'll dry pretty quickly and become hard to work with. Your grandmother won't believe that you made divinity. Now, here's the hard part. You have to wait. They have to like completely dry out. It takes about eight hours or so, so this is a great thing to do and then leave till the next day. Just be sure and keep them in a cool, dry place. So here's a piece of divine heaven coming right up. It's divinity time. I have to say it like super southern, like divinity time. I don't know the last time I had this. My mom is going to be super impressed. You can see how they're just little delicate pillows. They stay sticky for a while. Now, obviously, it hasn't been a full day. You want to let these sit out. Let them like completely dry out as much as they can. So overnight is going to be best and they last for a very long time, which is why these make great gifts, holiday gifts or for your cookie swap. Never really break them open. I just dig right in, but I want to show you the inside. Reminiscent of that nougat and it's kind of like spongy, but nougat is a little bit dense and chewy. This, watch, just melts in your mouth. Almost don't even have to chew it. Delightfully just pure and sweet. Again, literally melts in your mouth, but the crunch and the hint of saltiness from the pecans balance it out. While pecans are optional in divinity, I really don't think they are. I think you'll be much happier if you put them in than leave them out. I wish you could just sink your teeth into it. While this is the epitome of a Southern treat, what I have next might be the most Southern of all today. You've probably been thinking, she cannot be talking about Southern desserts without doing a hummingbird cake. You're right, so let's make a hummingbird cake. This is the iconic cake of the South, especially according to Southern Living. Ever heard of them? They are the experts on everything Southern and hummingbird cake is their most popular recipe since 1978. While this is not a Southern Living recipe, it is super close and our top-rated hummingbird cake recipe at Allrecipes. So here we go. The hummingbird cake became really popular in the South in the 60s or 70s, but before that, it really originated in Jamaica. Did you know? I've got some flour in here. To that, I'm adding in sugar. If you've never had hummingbird cake, it is reminiscent of carrot cake, but without the carrots. You add in some bananas and pineapple. It's very tropical, but it also has this warm spice to it. This is the exact kind of dessert that I think makes a perfect breakfast because it's kind of like banana muffins, banana bread. Teaspoon of cinnamon, teaspoon of baking soda, and a teaspoon of salt. Get those all incorporated and then in go the wet ingredients. This is really a one-bowl cake. So there's several wet ingredients here. I'm starting with the oil. It's just vegetable oil. Listen, if it ain't broke, we don't fix it. There's no avocado oil going on in the South years ago. And then eggs. Okay, I'm just gonna get those incorporated just until it's moistened. You don't wanna overmix this situation. If you overmix your cakes, they just become too tough. Okay, so just until this has moistened that flour, now I go in with what I think are the stars of the show, the banana, and you wanna mash it up. You can do this in a bowl or you can take a little piece of wax or parchment paper and just mash it right on there and slide it in. You wanna choose very ripe bananas, just like you would in a banana bread. Okay, I like to mash it pretty finely because I don't want the chunks in there. I just want the flavor and the moisture that it lends. In goes the banana and crushed pineapple with the juice. Small can, a little vanilla, and then nuts. Sometimes people use walnuts. Sometimes people use just pecans. You can use a combination of both, which I'm doing, but you just need about a cup total of whatever you prefer. The fruit in there is going to lend all of that moisture, but also kinda adds this kinda like tropical flavor to the cake. I feel like it should be harder than that. You will divide this among your cake pans, so if you wanna do eight-inch or nine-inch, if you do eight-inch, it's gonna be a little bit thicker. You could even do one big sheet cake for all I care. We're gonna go old-fashioned. Three eight-inch round cake pans. I've got them lined with parchment just for easy removal, and then divide this as evenly as you can. If you only have two cake pans and you wanna just do two pans, you can. They'll just be really full and thick. All right, then these just go into the oven 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or so until they are cooked through. Because I have them like this, I'm gonna rotate those pans halfway through. I'll let them cool in the pan for a few minutes and then I'll flip them out. Then you have to let them cool completely. Truthfully, this is best to make a day to even a month ahead of time and you can keep in your freezer, but I like to let them cool completely and maybe even stick them in the fridge, and that's gonna make it a lot easier to frost. So while that happens, make yourself some cream cheese frosting. You've seen me do that before. You know how sometimes when you eat cake, you're more excited about the frosting, kinda like in that Coca-Cola cake? This is a time where the cake shines. I've just got a simple cream cheese frosting. You don't have to go all the way quite to the edge because when you put the next layer on, it's gonna spread it out a little more. You'll notice I'm putting the cake layers on upside down because then you get that really straight, pretty edge. This cake has a lot of sugar and moisture, so it is gonna maybe stick to whatever you put it on, but that's where you get the perfect bites and the leftover little treat for the cook. Now, the modern-day Southern cook might just leave it like this and not frost the sides, but we're going classic. That's why the wax paper's there because Nicole is messy. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect. It's probably better if it's not perfect because then it looks more homemade. I like for it to have a little chill on it and to set before I slice it, so I'm gonna pop it in the fridge for just a little while, at least 30 minutes, but you could even do this the day before, and then it's going to be a lot prettier when we go to slice it. The finishing touch and the iconic look of the hummingbird cake, pecans on the outside. I'm feeling the need to go the extra mile, so take some chopped-up pecans, and I'm just gonna give a little crushed-up pecan trim. I might've made a little mess, but she's cute. And this, my friends, is a Southern icon, the hummingbird cake, and I'm about ready for a slice. When that happens, that's the best bite. Get a little sneak. Mm, mm, mm. I've been talking to y'all like, you know every one of these desserts, although I know some of you are not from the South. This is the recipe to try. I feel like this is one of those cakes you forget about, but then when you have it, you're like, ugh, I could eat this every day. I do not like a dry cake. This is anything but that, mm. This is the South's finest right here. I'm glad we brought it back. This is the star of the next dessert, vinegar pie. People in the olden days were very resourceful. Very similar to a chest pie or buttermilk pie. It's custard-based, it's gonna be creamy in the middle, and have that nice little sugar crust on the top. This is simple, and this pie came out of the Great Depression, so it is made with pantry staples. Super affordable, and just a good one to have in mind for when you need a dessert on the fly. Okay, starts with sugar, shocker. The recipe I'm using just calls for white sugar, although I saw some recipes that had a combination of white and brown sugar, and I like that idea, so that's what I'm gonna do. When I think of Southern desserts, pie always comes to mind. Buttermilk pie is another popular one. These are very similar, but the acid from the vinegar is gonna do the same thing that the acid in the buttermilk does. It kinda adds that good tang, and helps everything kinda come together. To help this pie set, this recipe adds just a couple tablespoons of self-rising flour. If you don't have self-rising flour, you can make your own if you've got regular flour, and baking powder, and baking soda, and salt. It's already just like, everything's already added into it. And I've melted a stick of butter, that goes in, along with some vanilla, a few eggs, and the star of our show, some vinegar. A lot of the old recipes just call for fruit vinegar. It could be any flavor you want. Some just use plain distilled vinegar. I like the thought of apple cider. It's got that natural kinda sweetness. And it's mainly added for its chemical reaction, more than its flavor. This pie is not gonna taste like vinegar. And it reacts with that self-rising flour, and the eggs. Okay, just mix it well, and pour it into an unbaked pie shell. Naturally, I'm using a store-bought pie shell that has been thawed. This cooks at a lower temperature, so it goes in at 300 degrees for just about 45 minutes. You want the center to be still, like, slightly jiggly. See you soon! This is a great canvas, so you can eat it as is. P.S., it's a delicious breakfast. But you can top it with fresh whipped cream and berries to kinda jazz it up. All right, she is cooled and ready to slice. Woo! See that custard just set up? Because of that little sugar crust, it might crack a little bit, but that's okay, because that's the best part. It almost looks like caramel on the inside. Obviously, if you leave it, might make this the day ahead. It'll be even more set up if you leave it in the fridge. To finish it off, fresh whipped cream and a little berry. Are we ending on a super sweet note? Vinegar pie, let's see. Almost blew it like it was hot. Mm, that is quite southern. You would never know vinegar, okay? It has a little sweet tang to it, but you can't really pick out what it's from. But it does taste like it is more than just plain sugar. It adds a level of interest, almost like apple. I mean, I can almost taste a hint of apple in the back. The whipped cream kinda helps balance it out, but for me, it is all about that little sugary crust that forms on top. It's just like a good trick to have in your back pocket. And with the buttery crust. These desserts have survived generations, family rivalries, and tons of church potlucks. I'd like to know, which one are you gonna make first? Bye, y'all. Y'all.