Banoffee Dessert Salad (updated)

Justine Schofield's retro Australian dessert salad. Banana, dulce de leche from a tin of condensed milk slow-cooked in the slow cooker, crushed cookies and cream biscuits, whipped cream and vanilla custard, all layered with marshmallows. The kind of trifle that belongs on a buffet, eaten standing up with a spoon.

The slow-cooker dulce de leche technique is the no-fuss method for the traditional Argentinian milk caramel. A tin of sweetened condensed milk submerged in water in the slow cooker, set on high for five hours or low for ten, transforms into thick, golden dulce de leche through the Maillard browning of the condensed milk's sugars and proteins. Safer than boiling on the stove (where the tin can explode if the water runs dry); easier than baking in a water bath.

The Australian dessert-salad tradition (the buffet-table assembly of soft, creamy, sweet layers in a clear glass bowl) is the post-war culinary inheritance that mixes English trifle architecture with American convenience food. The 1980s versions leaned hard on fruit cocktail and Cool Whip; the modern Australian update uses real banana, real cream and real custard.

The layered approach in a glass bowl is the visual signature. Each layer needs to set or thicken enough to hold its shape against the next layer; the crushed biscuits absorb moisture from the custard and form a soft cake-like base; the whipped cream sits on top and holds the marshmallows in place. Make ahead by at least four hours to let the layers set. Serve with a spoon long enough to dig to the bottom; eat communally from the central bowl.