This really is The Ultimate Banana Split! With three different kinds of ice cream and a huge assortment of toppings, this over-the-top dessert can feed a huge crowd!
Ultimate. Ginormous. Towering. Honkin’. Pimped out. Pick your giant adjective of choice–however you want to describe it, this is one hyoooooge* banana split!
*I hope you said this with a Donald Trump voice, because I sure did.
Folks, today is National Banana Split Day, and as we all know, I am a slave to these fake holidays. Seriously, Jason should wise up and send me a fabricated press release about National Chips and Salsa for Dinner Day, because there is no surer way to get me excited about a food than to suggest that it has its own calendar holiday. I’ve never even assembled a banana split before, but after hearing about its Very Special Day, I became a banana-slicing, ice cream-scooping, cherry-topping fool.
I’m not sure if pictures can convey the size of this dessert beast. You’re looking at a pound of brownie cubes, 7 whole bananas, 3 quarts of ice cream, a dozen chocolate-dipped strawberries, fudge, caramel, and strawberry sauces, and a boatload of sweet odds and ends from my kitchen.
And before we go further, let me say that although I treasure the emails and comments I receive about how sugar is deadly and desserts are so unhealthy—I really, truly do—rest assured that this over-the-top dessert is meant to serve, like, a bajillion people (= at least 10) so save those angry emails for something really important, like that grumpy cat on YouTube who’s always scowling at things. I mean, who does that jerk think he is?
So how do you take a banana split from average to awesome? Well, by adding basically every sweet thing your mind can dream up. I love brownie sundaes, so fudgy brownie chunks were a natural addition. I also like berries with my ice cream, so I thought I’d kick things up a notch by dipping my strawberries in chocolate before adding them to the split. And from there things rapidly spun out of control. Cookies! Sprinkles! Cherries! Lollipops! Must.Use.All.The.Things!
The end result was a towering banana split suitable for royalty. (But not that Prince George. He should stick to pureed peas for awhile.) Every bite had something different, and I particularly enjoyed doing some brownie excavation down into the bottom of the bowl—just call me the Indiana Jones of banana splits. As it sits the ice cream starts to melt a bit, meaning that the bottom layer has the most delicious mingling of brownies, banana chunks, soft ice cream, hot fudge, and any other fillin’s that have managed to slip-slide their way down the bowl.
After assembly, you can dish the split up into individual bowls, or if your group is friendly, you can all gather around the giant bowl and just dig in with individual spoons. And hey, if they’re not friendly, it’s a terrific chance to make new friends. Spoon-jousting and fighting over the biggest chocolate-covered strawberries are great ways to meet new people.
The best part is, this is a super-impressive but super-easy dessert to throw together. You can use all store-bought ingredients and whip it up in about 10-15 minutes, including slicing and scooping time. So, no excuses! I hope you’re all able to celebrate National Banana Split Day in style!
🍦More Dessert Recipes You’ll Love
- Mini Banana Split Cakes
- Birthday Party Hat Cakes
- Ice Cream Sundae Cake
- Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream Cups
- Birthday Present Mini Cakes
- Doughnut Ice Cream Sundaes
- Circus Animal Layer Cake
Striped Buttercream Balloon Cake
No-Churn Circus Animal Ice Cream
The Ultimate Banana Split
Ingredients
- 4 cups brownie cubes, (about 1 lb)
- 7-8 large bananas
- 3 quarts ice cream
- Fudge sauce
- Caramel sauce
- Strawberry sauce
- Cookies
- Chocolate-dipped strawberries, or other berries
- Whipped cream
- Sprinkles
- Maraschino cherries
Instructions
- Scatter brownie cubes in the bottom of a wide, shallow bowl. Slice bananas in half lengthwise, and place them on top of the brownies, fanning outward in a circle. Top the bananas with scoops of ice cream. Drizzle the ice cream with fudge, caramel, and/or strawberry sauces. Garnish with cookies, whipped cream, sprinkles, cherries, or anything else you can dream up! The ice cream will start to melt fairly quickly, so pass out the spoons and dig in!
Recipe Notes
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Ohhhhh, takes me back to some of my happy childhood places. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Can you believe I’ve never had a proper banana split before? Obviously my childhood was defective!
Hahaha no ways..! This is heaven in a bowl.. Can anything look that good and that BIG..?? I´m very into big bold desserts and this is it! 🙂
xoxo
Me too! The bigger the better! 🙂
Are you sure that’s made for a group? Because I’ll take it all…
A group, or one highly motivated and hungry friend…
Oh my gosh. I totally chuckled at your National Chips and Salsa for Dinner Day, because it reminded me of the time I invited our friends over for nachos – for dinner. They were like, “Oh. Nachos? That’s it?”. . . . *sigh*. I guess not everyone feels like its just tacos spread out in one big layer. Humph! AND, I say “honkin'” all the time – and get weird looks for it – apparently it’s not normal in my current culture. Like that it made it into print right here!
So Jason randomly came into the kitchen the other day and asked me, “Who is your friend that has nachos for dinner, and how can we get invited over there?” Ha! We both loved this story. And for the record, it’s TOTALLY tacos spread in a big delicious, melty cheesy, crunchy chippy layer, and I would be thrilled if someone served that to me!
Hello, my name is 10 people.
And I want this beauty (<<<<what an understatement but you know my crappy Englsh vocabulary) all for myself.
Seriously……… this looks too incredible for words. Pinning! xxxx
Haha, I literally laughed out loud. You deserve a giant banana split for your humor, lady!
Pretty sure I just watched that .GIF at least 10x in a row—MESMERIZING! This is beautiful and glorious and I want to carve out a little hole with a spoon and live in it.
Also, I’m totally laughing at the thought of people taking time out of their day to bother emailing you about dangers of sugar, hahah! Sometimes I wonder how people find the time…
Oh,my! I was just about to write a similar post ^_^
I, too, was mesmerized by the making-in-progress of such an inspiring dessert (dinner?!).
I saw the picture on Pinterest, and thought to myself that, nowadays, you indeed need to be a hero of sorts, to be public about liking sugar and sugary things.
*I’m here to show my support*
^_^
Haha, thank you! Maybe I should get shirts made or something, so the dozen of us who still eat real sugar can show our sugar pride. 😉
Thanks Rachel! Banana split houses don’t seem structurally sound, but dang do they sound delicious. I would join you in that plan for sure!
This is amazing! But tell me people don’t really STILL email you and leave comments about the evils of sugar. I mean, I suppose they do, every time a new sugar-hater crosses your path. Which is probably all the time. Ugh, so exhausting! So, unless this is private information, I was wondering if you’d consider sharing the source of your press releases. You certainly don’t have to, but I would love to get on their mailing list. No pressure! As a return gesture of good faith, I will tell you that the restaurant chain with the horrible service that prompted my Turkey BLTA sammich is… Red Robin. But it might just be the Valencia branch!!!! In other news, this Banana Splitter is gorgeous, impressive, amazing, and fabulous, just like you! 7 bananas? 3 quarts of ice cream? Heck yes. Obviously. Nice work as always!
Well, I guess it’s the price I pay for celebrating a toxic substance. 🙂 Look at my life, look at my choices.
GAH!!!!! Can I come over to your house? Please, can I? And, just so you know, I am *not* bringing 10 friends (or even 1), because I’m pretty sure I could eat that entire delicious looking split by myself!
Do it, DOOO IT! We could have the most epic banana split party ever. You bring the DVDs!
I want to live in this sundae. It has everything I could dream of – and those brownie chunks, I can’t take my eyes off ’em! This is literally the only time I will tolerate a banana anywhere near my dessert. So worth it.
For you, my dear friend, I would de-bananaify my banana split. And that is not a euphemism!
Mother of all desserts, this is incredible and I am speechless. I just want to dive right in a la Scrooge McDuck and live in this sundae. The brownies… those chocolate dipped strawberries… all the sprinkles! It’s enough to make me weep a little.
I seriously thought the Scrooge McDuck thing myself! Not joking–I wanted to backstroke in it. You are a girl after my own heart!