Banana Cream Cupcakes

The cupcake is dead. Long live the cupcake. While the cupcake clamor may be ebbing, there’s no reason to banish the diminutive dessert from our hearts and plates. Especially when you inject the little bastards full of pudding. I took the lazy route and used a box of Jello vanilla pudding and pie filling, but I encourage you to be better than me, in every way. Here’s how I made this delightful dessert.

Banana Cream Cupcakes

The Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick softened, unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract



Method

Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake tins with pastel paper cups. Mash bananas in a bowl, thoroughly with vanilla. Cream butter and sugar. Combine dry ingredients. Add egg yolks to butter/sugar mixture, slowly. Mix in bananas. Add flour mixture, in three parts, so it is well-combined. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites with a hand mixer to soft peaks (you will recognize soft peaks when you see them; DO NOT LICK). Gently fold egg whites into the batter until all is well-blended. Bake for twenty-six minutes, or until a toothpick comes up clean, and rotate the pan 180 degrees halfway though. Set aside and cool completely.

For the Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 3.4 oz package vanilla pudding
• 1 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract



Method

Combine all ingrdients and mix with hand beaters for two minutes, until thick. Refrigerate while the cupcakes cool. Use a pastry bag with tip to inject about two tablespoons of pudding into each cake.

The Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract



Method

Combine all ingrdients and chill in the refrigerator while the cupcakes cool and the pudding sets. Then whip to stiff peaks with a hand mixer. Pipe onto cakes.

At the last minute, I had a scathingly brilliant idea to add white rum to the icing. Alas, we are all out of rum. But I encourage you to test my theory and tell us how it turns out. Finally, I grated a square of bittersweet chocolate and sprinkled the shavings atop the tiny, plumped and frosted treats. Bring to your Mother-in-Law’s for her birthday dinner. Happy belated, P-dog!

Tagged as: banana, cupcakes, frosting, pudding

About the Author: Jillian Bedell

Jillian grew up in Connecticut, went to university in Boston, college in New Haven, did some post-grad soul searching in New York, exiled herself to Mexico, married her longtime sweetheart, and lived in a house on the ocean. She suspected Maine might be the perfect place to raise a family, so she came back home to New England two years ago. Now a mom to Violet Maeve and living in Rockland, where she hopes to settle for a good, long while, Jillian reads, writes, walks, and practices Nia, when not watching Malcolm photograph sandwiches.