Banana Chocolate Cupcakes

Oh what to do when you have a pile of brown bananas and you're sick of banana bread. Mash 'em in cupcakes! No one ever gets tired of cupcakes do they? I was perusing the joy of baking website and came across a recipe for chocolate banana cake. It looked so good that I immediately set about making it. This is my first time making ganache frosting but it turned out yummy. Enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Cake (or cupcakes!!):

2 cups (400 grams) granulated white sugar

1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour

3/4 cup (75 grams) cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium sized bananas)

1 cup (240 ml) warm water

1/2 cup (120 ml) milk

1/2 cup (120 ml) safflower or canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Chocolate Ganache Frosting:

8 ounces (227 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon (14 gram) unsalted butter


Chocolate Banana Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, a 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm) pan. Set aside. Or you can line muffin pans with paper liners.

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, mashed bananas, water, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir, or whisk, until combined. You will notice that the batter is quite thin. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes for the cake. Bake 18-20 minutes for cupcakes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. When completely cooled, frost with the Ganache.


Ganache Directions:

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel, or heatproof bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. When Ganache has completely cooled, beat until soft and fluffy. Then spread the frosting on top of the cake. Can garnish with dried banana chips if desired.

Serves 16 people.

Pirapple Cupcakes...Aaarg!

Ahoy me mateys! Saturday was "Talk like a pirate day" so we wanted to rustle up some pirate grub. (We use any excuse to party!) We made a meal of Cornish hens, "hard tack" biscuits, and pirate grog. To top it off we served up some Pirapple cupcakes. What the heck is Pirapple you may ask? It's just a combo of yummy apple cupcakes with a little Pirattitude.

I found a new cinnamon apple ice cream topping the other day and I was dying to see how it tasted in cupcakes. Oh boy was it delicious!

Kami's Pirapple Cupcake's

Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker Spice Cake
3 eggs
1/3 cup applesauce
1 1/4 cup water
1 medium apple, peeled and chopped
1 jar apple cinnamon ice cream topping

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl add cake mix, eggs, water, and applesauce. Beat for 3 minutes. Stir in chopped apple. Fill 24 muffin cups 1/4 full with cake batter. Place a teaspoon of apple cinnamon topping in middle of each cupcake. Top with remaining cake batter. Bake for 17-22 minutes or until toothpick poked into side of cupcake comes out clean. Once cooled, top with caramel frosting recipe below.

Betty Crocker's Caramel Frosting:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Heat margarine in 2-quart saucepan until milted. Stir in brown sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir over low heat 2 minutes; stir in milk. Heat to boiling; remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually stir in powdered sugar. Place pan of frosting in bowl of cold water; beat until smooth and of spreading consistency. If frosting becomes too stiff, stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time. Frosts a 13x9-inch cake or fills and frosts two 8-or9-inch cake layers. 15 servings; 185 calories per serving.

That there be a mighty fine treat fit for any pirate!

Boston Cream Cupcakes

These were soooo good. This recipe is from a Cake Mix Magic cookbook and I only changed two things. Instead of filling pudding from bottom, I filled from the top. I also recommend cooling down the icing a bit before frosting. I literally had 5 minutes to frost these so they were a gooey mess. At least they were a hit at the party!

Ingredients:

1 package (about 18 oz) yellow cake mix plus ingredients to make mix

1/4 cup French vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix

1 cup cold milk

1 container (16 oz) dark chocolate frosting

Instructions:

1. Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions for cupcakes. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack; cool completely.


2. Meanwhile, whisk together pudding mix and milk until well blended; cover and refrigerate.


3. Use tip of sharp knife to gently poke small hole into bottom of each cupcake. Place pudding in pastry bag fitted with small round pastry tip.


4. Place tip inside hole at bottom of cupcake; gently squeeze bag to fill cupcake with pudding. Repeat with remaining cupcakes.


5. Place frosting in medium microwavable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 30 seconds; stir. Frost tops of cupcakes.
   
   
   
   

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 pkg. white cake mix plus ingredients to prepare mix

2 tbsp. nonpareils

24 flat-bottomed ice cream cones

Prepared vanilla frosting

Additional nonpareils and decors

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Stir in nonpareils.
3. Pour 1/4 cup batter into each ice cream cone.
4. Stand cones in 13x9-inch baking pan or in muffin pan cups. Bake about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks.
5. Frost cupcakes and decorate as desired.

Note: I suggest using a little less than 1/4 cup because most of mine spilled over the side! I only had three that didn't spill over. That's why I only took pictures of the three good ones in the middle of some regular cupcakes.

These were a big hit with the kids!