Banana Bread Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Goodbye Banana Bread… Hello Banana Bread Cupcakes. Leftover Bananas get a makeover with a Maple & Cream Cheese Frosting…because Everything taste better with cream cheese
and REAL Maple syrup makes ALL the difference.
I LOVE Banana Bread just as much as the next person, I am just not crazy about the chunks of banana you end up with. In order to make “my” perfect tasting banana bread cupcake, I puree the bananas until smooth so the flavor is in every bite
These are still yummy (and much healthier) without the frosting. But I promise, It taste sooo much better this way.
It is full of banana flavor with more of a cupcake texture than bread. The maple cream cheese frosting just puts it over the top. This is my new favorite way to use up bananas.
If you don’t have a piping bag, just put the frosting in a ziplock with a piping tip on the end.
Ingredients
- For the cupcake:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups banana puree (about 4 ripe bananas blended until smooth)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- For the Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
- 1/2 cup butter, room temp
- 4 cups confectioner’s powdered sugar
- 3 Tbsp good maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350*. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or spray pan with non-stick spray. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together melted butter, pureed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir until combined (DO NOT overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups about 3/4 full.Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Pipe with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.
- For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy. With mixer running, Slowly, Sift in the powdered sugar until smooth. Add maple syrup. Mix for 10 seconds, until combined.
I have tried 100’s of Banana bread recipes.. Most are extremely dense but I think this one is perfect for a cupcake.
Just DO NOT overmix batter or you will end up with a dense cupcake.
Feel free to add nuts if you like, we opted not to..
by toasting the nuts first it will bring out 100X more nut flavor to your recipe..
This recipe yields 12 regular size muffins. I opted for the jumbo size so we ended up with 6.
You could also make mini cupcakes for little kids with this batter. I ALWAYS use a cookie scoop when measuring cupcake batter. Keeps the sizes consistent and the kitchen a little cleaner.
You can refrigerate the leftover frosting, should you have any. I keep mine still in the ziplock sitting in a bowl. Just bring back to room temp before using.
they look delicious!