Banana Cupcakes-Three Ways

I made these for a coworker who was thinking about ordering some banana cupcakes for his mom's birthday next month. I whipped up a small batch, and a few different frosting options.

So, I present to you number six on my quest for 26 cupcakes before my 26th birthday.

I frantically made these on a work night, so I have no action shots, but here is the finished product. Crooked shot in a poorly lit, and boring kitchen. But check out that cutesy little cake plate! My bestie and I went to Marshals last week where I picked this up for $6. I almost didn't because my tiny apartment is crowded as it is. But I am so glad I got this, as it now has a permanent place in my heart. It is just so dainty and twee.

Not to toot my own horn, but these were easily the best banana cupcakes I have ever had. I love fake banana flavor in runts, and laffy taffy, but artificial banana has no place in cupcakes. And these cupcakes are pure squidgy banana heaven. The front left is topped with peanut butter frosting. The back one is a mixture of butter, cream cheese, and some toffee I made on the stove top, I dd this because I ran out of honey when trying to make a honey cream cheese frosting and had to find something new. It was good, but not great. The right is frosted with nutella frosting. So good.

I have a confession to make about my cupcakes. When I started out baking a few years ago, I was intent on making no shortcuts. Everything from scratch, all the time. But recently I have starting using something that cuts the work in half..

.. boxed cake mix.

I know, I know... I am feeling very brave to admit this. But occasionally I will use a box cake mix instead of measuring all the dry ingredients, sifting them, creaming the butter and sugar and all that jazz. There are some cakes I absolutely will not use a mix for. But for certain cupcakes the finished products are almost identical whether you make it all from scratch, or use a box mix to help you on your way. This is one of those recipes.

Whenever I use a boxed cake mix I always follow a few basic rules to get the most out of it

1. Use room temperature ingredients. This is a must when baking from scratch, and it is not to be ignored when using a boxed mix either. You are already saving time, so you will have a little bit to spare to make sure everything is at the right temperature.
2. Never use water. If the cake mix calls for water, I use buttermilk. But on occasion I have used coconut milk, or regular 1 % milk. Buttermilk will gave your cake a nice crumb, and is the main component to not having a boxed cake taste. If you don't keep buttermilk on hand, just add a few teaspoons of white vinegar to some milk and let it sit for a few minutes. I wouldn't do this in a recipe that is based on the flavor of buttermilk, like buttermilk pie for instance, but it works great for cakes.
3. Play around with your recipe. Because the cake mixes are so cheap (you can find them for under $1 on sale), and so quick to throw together, you don't have to be timid about your baking. If you want to try something new, you can even halve a recipe and just use half a bag of mix.

With a box of yellow cake mix sitting in my pantry for inspiration, this is what I came up with for banana cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix (I use Pillsbury if at all possible, I think it comes out the best)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 eggs
• 5 ripe bananas. When I say ripe, I mean what most people refer to as overripe. Lots of black specks, but no obviously mushy or gross parts
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar (give or take some)

Directions:

• Melt the butter in a saute pan, then slice your bananas and throw them in there with the brown sugar. Cook them for a few minutes until your kitchen smells like delicious caramel and bananas.
• Place the bananas in a stand mixer and beat on high for a few minutes with your paddle attachment. This will break down the bananas and help cool them more quickly. Let your bananas reach room temperature before continuing. I ended up sticking mine in the freezer for a few minutes.
• Mix the milk and eggs in with the bananas, them add the cake mix.
• Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. My oven is crazy, so your times may vary.

The peanut butter frosting was the most successful. Together with the banana cupcake, it has made it onto my list of cupcakes that I am creating for coworkers who want to place orders as The Elvis Special. I thought it was cute.

 For the peanut butter frosting:


Since I was making such a small amount, I didn't measure at all. I would guess that I used about 1/3 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup butter, 2 Tablespoons milk, and 1.5 cups powdered sugar.

• Cream together equal parts of peanut butter and softened butter. Make sure the butter is very soft, and that you cream them together well.
• Slowly add in the milk, and then powdered sugar until everything looks creamy and delicious.

These cupcakes were heaven. Go get some bananas and make them today. You can thank me later.