Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Sometimes, I think people tend to believe that food bloggers are perfect. We never make a mistake, all of our dishes come out of the oven looking picture-perfect and tasting fabulous – all while our kitchens remain spotless, of course. Well, at least for me, this could not be farther from the truth. I can’t tell you how many recipes I’ve tried that went straight into the trash. Not everything you make is going to be a home-run. Part of being a home-cook is experimenting with different recipes, and finding your own list of tried and true favorites, all while making mistakes and failures along the way.

My latest kitchen mishap was almost a complete kitchen failure. I had been rushing around preparing food for my mother-in-law’s surprise birthday party, and I was whipping up the batter for these banana cupcakes – one of her favorite kinds of cake. As I started to fill the cupcake liners, I noticed that the batter was rather thin, but I kept going, assuming it was just particular to that recipe. After the cupcakes were in the oven for 10 minutes or so, it dawned on me…I never added the dry ingredients! Ughhhh…

Well of course, I had no ripe bananas left, and was in a time crunch to get the cupcakes done before the party, which was just a few hours away at this point. What’s a girl to do? My only option was to dump the hot batter back into the bowl, stir in the dry ingredients, and cross my fingers that they turned out ok.

As it turned out, my rescue mission was a success. The cupcakes came out moist and flavorful, and the cream cheese frosting is to die for. These cupcakes are essentially banana muffins topped with a thick layer of sweet frosting…how could you go wrong? They were a huge hit at the party, and definitely something a little different than typical chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. I can’t wait to find an excuse to make these again…and hopefully I’ll remember to add flour next time!

 Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Yields: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup mashed over ripe bananas (about 2 large bananas)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
2 1/8 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
4 oz applesauce

For the frosting:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 (12 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
5 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare cupcake tins with paper liners. In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with lemon juice, set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla, sour cream and applesauce. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk. Stir in banana mixture.

Divide the batter among the cupcake tins, filling each tin up 3/4 of the way. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove pans from oven and immediately place in freezer for 45 minutes. (This keeps the cake moist by immediately stopping the baking so the cake does not continue to bake when you remove it from the oven.)

For the frosting: In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Add confectioners’ sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth. Using a pastry bag, pipe frosting onto each cupcake. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Source: The Novice Chef