Banana Fool

Flummerys, trifles, slumps, and fools were some of the soft, custardy desserts popular in colonial America. Those unflattering names and the dishes themselves originated in England. Except for trifle, they may have disappeared from English cookery, but they’ve remained popular in the South, especially in Virginia. The cook’s fancy is all that determines what goes into them, and this one was tailored to the taste of an English friend as his seventy-fifth “birthday cake.”