Banana magnet

The sight of ripe bananas beckon us to do something with them. We turned brown spotty bananas into cute little cupcakes.

Banana Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

(Recipe adapted from 'Cupcakes' by Sue McMahon)

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes

• 100 g butter, softened
• 100 g light soft brown sugar
• 100 g self-raising flour
• 2 medium eggs (we used 1)
• 1 ripe banana, mashed (we used 2)
• A dash of cinnamon

For the buttercream

• 175 g butter, softened
• 350 g icing sugar
• 3 Tbsp boiling water
• Few drops of vanilla essence

Method:

For the cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs and flour to the bowl. Beat until the mixture is smooth, then fold in the mashed banana.
4. Divide the mixture between the paper cases and bake in the centre of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes until the cakes have risen and are just firm to the touch in the centre.
5. Remove the cakes from the oven and transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

For the buttercream

1. Beat the butter in a bowl to soften it.
2. Add the icing sugar, boiling water and vanilla essence, and beat until the icing is very smooth and pale in colour.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Print-friendly recipe here.

The icing had a superb consistency, making it very piping-bag-friendly. The cupcakes on the other hand, were quite flat and moist. Probably because of the extra banana we added in place of egg.