Sunday - October 3, 2010

Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

It’s two O’clock in the morning and I am unable to fall asleep because of how hungry I am. I ate the last of my groceries earlier today, and now I am laying here counting just down the hours until the grocery store opens. Of course, with all this time on my hands, I have begun to fantasize about the indulgent breakfast that I plan to make in the morning. At the moment, the menu entails banana pancakes with strawberry preserves and scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese! I’m salivating at the very thought of it! But as I was thinking about banana pancakes, I remembered one of my favorite banana desserts that I have not yet blogged about—Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting. It is a recipe from Martha Stewart that I have made on several occasions (including my mom’s surprise 50^th birthday) and it is always a crowd pleaser. Definitely great in the summer too!

These cupcakes are nice because the fresh mashed banana keeps the cake very light and moist, without adding an artificial sweetness or flavor to the cake. In fact, the cake part itself resembles a muffin in my opinion because it isn’t sweet like a typical cupcake. But when topped with the homemade frosting, which has a great rich honey flavor, the cake transforms into a sweet and savory dessert. I like to top my cupcakes with fresh sliced banana after piping the frosting onto them, just be careful that you add the bananas right before serving because they will turn brown very quickly. Enjoy!

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 ½ cups mashed banana (about 4 ripe banana, plus some for garnish later)

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. In the well mix together the butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate the flour mixture, but do not over mix!!! Use an ice cream scoop to distribute batter evenly into lined cupcake pans.

Bake for about 25 to 30 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from over, allow to cool in pans completely, and then top with honey-cinnamon frosting (recipe follows) and fresh sliced banana.

Frosting Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon honey

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

In an medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and cinnamon until smooth (about 4-5 min).