Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Fat Tuesday is tomorrow! I have to get my cupcakes in while I still can, right? Banana desserts have been on my mind lately. I keep hearing about “Banana Pudding Milkshakes” at ChicFilA and Cook-Out. I decided to try Banana Cupcakes, since they are pre-portioned deliciousness.
For the best frosting, make sure the cream cheese is chilled and you have extra powdered sugar just in case! If the frosting is too thin, you can place it in the refrigerator or add in powdered sugar until you reach desired thickness. ( You can tell this happened by the drizzled cupcakes vs. the thicker frosted cupcakes I finished later).
Banana Cupcake Ingredients (“Semi-From Scratch”) :
- 1 box, Pound Cake cake mix
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (1-2)
- 1/4 cup butter, softened (1/2 stick)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar, +
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, chilled
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Banana Cupcakes Preparation (“Semi-From Scratch”) :
Preheat oven to 350°. To prepare cupcakes, combine all ingredients and blend on medium speed until well incorporated. Pour each cupcake liner 2/3rds of the way full. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a knife/toothpick comes out clean.While baking, prepare cream cheese frosting as described below.
Being Healthier:
I shy away from ever using store bought frosting because of taste and health. I know, using a cake mix while saying “make your own frosting” is a little contradictory. Frosting is not a gold star of nutrition regardless of how its made, however, it takes about 2 minutes to make it yourself. It also uses far less ingredients: (sugar, cream cheese or butter and vanilla) that make your scratch version slightly healthier than store-bought. Ingredients from Brand Name Cream Cheese Frosting:
Sugar, Vegetable Oil Shortening (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oils, Mono- and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 60), Water, Corn Syrup, Corn Starch, Salt, Colored with Titanium Dioxide, Yellow 5, Red 40, Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate), Natural and Artificial Flavors [Milk], Lactic Acid, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate.
Let’s get right to the make your own version after that list!
Cream Cheese Frosting Preparation:
- To prepare the frosting, cut the cream cheese into smaller cubes (~ 6-8). Beat the powdered sugar, chilled cream cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla at medium speed of a mixer. *Note: I mixed this at first by hand until the sugar was incorporated a little better to prevent powdered sugar from flying everywhere.*
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If too thick, add 1 Tbsp of warm water
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If too thin, chill or continue adding powdered sugar until desired thickness is reached.
There is the “time saver from a mix” creation that tastes surprisingly close to homemade! The addition of nutmeg and bananas give it that little extra “something”. Of course, I am now going to include a “From Scratch” version because I try to prepare everything from scratch when I have the time and because it can be much healthier!
Banana Cupcake Ingredients (From Scratch):
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
- 1/4 cup butter, softened (1/2 stick)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract * 2 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup plain fat free yogurt
Banana Cupcakes Preparation (From Scratch) :
Preheat oven to 350°. To prepare cupcakes, beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar, butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 3 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add mashed banana and remaining 1/4 cup sugar to egg mixture, beating well, creating a “wet mixture”.
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a bowl, blending well to create a “dry mixture”. Alternate adding the dry mixture to this wet mixture with the yogurt. Start and end with the dry mixture; mixing after every addition. Spoon this final batter into 12 muffin cups lined with paper liners. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a knife/toothpick inserted comes out clean.Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack before spreading frosting.
- See Above for Cream Cheese Frosting Preparation
Some more dessert adventures you might enjoy:
Wicked Good Pecan Rolls
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting courtesy of Yummy Chunklet
Vanilla Cupcakes (Gluten Free)
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins courtesy of Itzy’s Kitchen
There you have it, scrumptious cupcake recipes that are sure to please either way. I am hoping to prepare another round of cupcakes for tomorrow (from scratch) for an office “Mardi Gras” party at lunch, which will have all kinds of treats. This week I am also planning on 3 mid-length runs ( 5 or 6 miles) and one longer run ~ 10-12 miles. Hopefully my goodies balance out with my running. I’m traveling for work this week also, but I get to see my mom, which I am very excited about!
What are your plans this week ?! Are you going to take part in any Fat Tuesday festivities ?
