Serves: Makes 10-12 muffin-sized cupcakes
My go-to energy snack is often a banana and a spoonful of peanut butter. Sadly I can’t claim these cupcakes to be as healthy but they are mighty fine. I make no apologies for the enormous quantity of peanut butter frosting but in my book a winning cupcake needs to be about 50% sponge and 50% frosting. I have used the large muffin cases here so if you use a smaller size you will naturally get about double the number of cupcakes. You will also have to reduce the cooking time. A final word about the bananas: as the photo demonstrates the bananas should be really ripe for the best results.
Ingredients
- For the cupcakes
- 175g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 75g golden caster sugar
- 100g light muscovado sugar
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 190g plain flour, sifted
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- For the frosting
- 155g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 190g smooth peanut butter
- 175g icing sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons milk
Method
- Heat the oven to 180˚c, fan oven 160˚c, mark 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases. Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little of the flour if the mixture starts to curdle. Stir in the mashed bananas and vanilla extract. Mix the flour with the baking powder and fold into the cake batter. Spoon the batter into the paper cases. I find using an ice cream scoop the easiest way to do this. Level out the tops.
- Bake the cupcakes in the oven for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden. A toothpick inserted into the centre of the cakes should come out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
- For the frosting, beat together all the ingredients until smooth. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and when the cupcakes are cold decorate the tops with generous amounts of the frosting.
