Saturday, June 11, 2011

Banana Cupcakes with {fudgy} Chocolate Buttercream


 Warning: these cupcakes are addicting, amazing, and absolutely scrumptious.


As usual, I found myself with quickly browning bananas and needed to find a use for them. Boy did I hit the jackpot!! These are my favorite cupcakes I've made so far. And let me tell you, that says a lot because I've loved the others too. Plus, they're made with bananas which naturally means they're healthy. Just go with it ;) Photos first, directions on down...

I baked the cupcakes until they were beautifully golden and the toothpick came out mostly clean





 Then I whipped up the most amazing chocolate frosting ever. Eh-ver.


 And I ate an undisclosed number of spoonfulls of the fudgy amazingness after frosting the cupcakes. What? I wasn't about to waste the leftovers - sometimes you have to take one for the team you know. This was one of those unfortunate cases.







Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. buttermilk  (*I found a substitute on Joy the Baker's Blog (here's her amazing post with a few ways to make it!). I used 1 tbsp lemon juice in a 1-cup measuring cup and fill the rest with milk, stir and let it sit for two minutes*)
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana (I used 3 bananas)

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt; whisk together and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until until you reach the desired consistency.  Reduce the mixer speed to medium low and add in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Mix in the mashed banana until well combined.  With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing only until just incorporated.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 to ¾ full.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.


Frosting:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk

*I had to add more butter,  sugar, cocoa and milk in the appropriate ratios in order to make enough for all of the cupcakes (this recipe was intended to frost cookies).

Directions:

Mix together all ingredients. May need to add more milk (slowly) until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. Spread on anything that tastes good which chocolate, which may be everything, but includes cookies, bars, cupcakes, graham crackers, etc. 

 They're wonderful either way, but we kept ours in the fridge for a cold snack and it kept them fresh and moist for days.


 Now continues the photo shoot. I'm sorry, these were just too good to go undocumented.












Make sure you make enough to share some with your friends and family. I packed mine up in my handy cupcake carrier (just got it not long ago, I'm so excited about it!) and took it to work. Every hardworking office deserves treats made with love. 



Ok- now make them, love them, share them (I know it's not easy, but they'll thank you) and be proud of your accomplishment!

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