I almost never finish a bunch of bananas before they start getting too soft and brown to eat… so I’ve had a few trials with banana cupcakes.
I wanted to replicate the roasted banana cupcake I had in San Francisco at Kara’s Cupcakes… so tried roasting bananas and then adding them to the batter (recipe from Martha Stewart’s Banana cupcakes).
Cut banana’s lengthwise…
Brush with melted butter…
Roast them in melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and honey in a 400 degree oven for 15 min. or so.
After they cooled, I mashed ‘em up with a fork and folded them into the batter.
The combination of Honey-Cinnamon and Cream Cheese in frosting sounded so enticing that I decided to experiment a bit. Wanting a light consistency other than simple buttercream (powdered sugar and butter), I opted to add a slight twist on buttercream made with whipped egg whites, boiling sugar syrup, and butter. I cut back on the 2.5 sticks of butter and added 1/3 c. cream cheese. Then a few squirts of honey and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon.
The result was a light and fluffy cream cheese frosting. The only thing is- the cupcake turned out more muffin-like and too dense for the frosting.
Second time’s the charm, right? I adapted this banana cupcake recipe from The Cupcake Project:
The Banana Cupcake Recipe (Makes 16)
- 1 stick butter
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 c. all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 3-4 bananas, pureed
Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs
Add sour cream, flour, and baking soda
Add vanilla and pour in bananas.
Bake for 20 min at 350
I adjusted the sweetness factor (the original was too sweet for me) and also upped the banana content, because I happened to have more at the time. I also used my handy dandy Magic Bullet to puree the bananas, because I didn’t want to risk having dense chunks that turn cupcake-into-muffin.
This time, I just did the regular cream-cheese buttercream frosting, with ratios slightly off and in favor of the cream cheese, because I had leftover whoopiee pie filling!
Frosting:
- 4 oz cream cheese
- ¼ cup butter
- Approx. 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Dash of cinnamon (to taste)
- Squirts of honey (to taste)
Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and honey. Whip until light and fluffy.
I got some good feedback on these guys- I liked them myself texturally- quite light and more cakey than muffin-y. Though overall a bit too sweet for me. Next time… perhaps caramel?! Yummmmmm.
nomnom...Cupcake! 