My husband keeps buying bananas. This isn’t a big deal, really, except that he’s supposed to watch his potassium intake, which means that he’s not supposed to be eating bananas. Plus, he only likes them when they’re still underripe and super-firm, so when they get, you know, ripe, like how normal people want them to be, he doesn’t want to eat them at all so they just sit there. And then he buys more. Which is how we end up with black bananas.
This week I had two separate bunches of bananas that dwindled to six bananas, then to six really creepy, desiccated tubes of banana-shaped horrors that were attracting fruit flies. Which means it’s time to make something out of them. Like cupcakes!
The first thing you need to do is to sift together the dry ingredients. So let’s do that.
The reason you sift all the dry ingredients is to a) get rid of any lumps of baking soda or flour, and b) distribute everything evenly. This is flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. The original recipe, from Epicurious, didn’t call for any spices at all, but I like my baked banana goods to have cinnamon and nutmeg. Also ginger, if you have it. I didn’t. But if I’d had some, it would have been in there.
This is a cup of mashed bananas. Yes, it looks pretty gross. They looked even grosser before I mashed them, trust me. Combine these with sour cream and vanilla extract. Oddly enough, that looks even more disgusting, which is why I didn’t take a picture of that. Some things cannot been unseen.
Beat butter and sugar together, then add about a third of the dry ingredients. Then add half of the sour cream/banana goo. Then dry. Then goo. Then dry. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Add a whole egg, and 1 egg yolk. Why an extra yolk? I have no idea. But I do not question the wisdom of Epicurious, as these are excellent cupcakes. Beat until just combined. Admire your handiwork.
Scoop into cupcake papers, 1/4 cup of batter per cupcake. The recipe says it makes 12, I got 16. Math is hard. Bake them at 350F for 20 minutes, then let them cool completely. Or eat one right away, while it’s still warm. Or two or three.
When they’re cool, make your frosting — this is cream cheese frosting — and finish ‘em off. You can get out a piping bag and make your frosting look all pretty, or you can be like me and just dollop it on with a spoon and make a half-assed swirl on top. Whatever. They’ll be in your tummy soon, and your tummy doesn’t care how pretty the frosting looked. Also — you’ll have lots of frosting left over. So you may as well make more cupcakes. Which I’ll probably do, because I still have three black bananas.
Bananas Gone Bad Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3-4 very ripe bananas (1 cup mashed)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Mash bananas with fork in another medium bowl until smooth. Mix sour cream and vanilla into bananas.
Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and beat until well blended. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with banana-sour cream mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating just until blended after each addition. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups (generous 1/4 cup for each).
Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center of each comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to rack and let cool completely.
Makes 12 to 16, depending on your math skills.
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
(from Martha Stewart)
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 (1-pound) box confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until creamy, about 30 seconds.
With the mixer on low, slowly add sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowls as necessary. Add vanilla and increase mixer speed to medium. Blend until frosting is fluffy, about 1 minute.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Ha!
Never before have I seen the phrase “some things cannot be unseen” in a cupcake recipe, at least one that didn’t involve Cthulhu.
There’s an old cliche about an author being able to write a grocery list and make it an interesting read. While I’ve never seen that done for real I can now say I found myself engrossed and amused by a cupcake recipe. Here’s an idea; if your novel gets bogged down or hits a dull patch, have the characters cook something.
As a child, my mom used to “save” some bananas until they got really gross and black. Then make the best banana bread I have ever had.
My dad did the same thing when I was growing up, corndog. And dang, it was delicious banana bread. Something about the bananas being just this side of still edible made the finished product magical. I use his recipe now and entire loaves can be devoured in an evening in our home, if we’re feeling saucy.
I will have to give these a go. Thanks for experimenting, Dawn!