Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
I made these cupcakes to take into work near Easter last year, and not only were they adorable, they were SO good! I had been craving peanut butter and banana (like Elvis), so I went on a recipe search. The cake was nice and fluffy, but tasted like banana bread, which is what I was hoping for. I just couldn’t get over how cute they were with the mini eggs on top. I did NOT make these gluten-free last year, because it was before I found out about my intolerance, but I intend to make these again and will just sub gluten-free all purpose flour for the regular flour. I’ll let you know how they turn out this year!
Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Adapted from this Bon Appetit recipe
Cupcakes:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (or sub gluten-free flour, preferable with xanthum gum added)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 very ripe large bananas, peeled
3/4 cup sour cream (lite works fine)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
Frosting:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
mini candy coated chocolate eggs, like Cadbury or Hershey
For cupcakes:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Mash bananas with fork in another medium bowl until smooth. Mix sour cream and vanilla into bananas.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Mash bananas with fork in another medium bowl until smooth. Mix sour cream and vanilla into bananas.
Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and beat until well blended. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with banana-sour cream mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating just until blended after each addition. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups (generous 1/4 cup for each).
Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center of each comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to rack and let cool completely.
For frosting:
Sift powdered sugar into large bowl. Add cream cheese, butter, and peanut butter. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until smooth. If it’s too thin, you can stir in more sifted powdered sugar until you get the right consistency. If you use 1/3 less fat cream cheese, you may need extra powdered sugar. You’ll want it to be able to hold a little shape if you intend to make it look like a nest with the eggs. Spread frosting over top of cupcakes, dividing equally.
Sift powdered sugar into large bowl. Add cream cheese, butter, and peanut butter. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until smooth. If it’s too thin, you can stir in more sifted powdered sugar until you get the right consistency. If you use 1/3 less fat cream cheese, you may need extra powdered sugar. You’ll want it to be able to hold a little shape if you intend to make it look like a nest with the eggs. Spread frosting over top of cupcakes, dividing equally.
I tried to make mine look like nests by spreading the icing on with a knife and randomly pulling the knife up off of the frosting (does that even make sense?) to create peaks. If you want to make the frosting look even more like a nest, stir in some coconut so it looks like straw. Place the mini candy eggs in the “nest” of frosting before serving. If you are going to store these for more than a couple of hours, you may want to wait to add the eggs to the top, as the candy may start melting.
By the way, I think I frosted these and them put them back in the cupcake pan so I could take them somewhere. Otherwise, I don’t know why they would still be in the pan since I would have removed them to allow them to cool and then to frost.