Now, I’m not a huge cake fan… sad, I know.  I’m that person who passes on cake but will eat the icing off the top.  But I do enjoy making a good cupcake every once and a while. 

With lots of icing of course.  :)

What is your favorite cupcake combo?  It’s a hard question… think about it.

I wanted to try the brown sugar banana cupcakes from one of my favorite blogs, Howsweetitis.com  because I love peanut butter and bananas… 

For the icing, I thought a chocolate-peanut butter frosting sounded perfect.  So, the result? a Brown Sugar Banana Cupcake with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Frosting.

 I don’t think I have to say anything more. 

Brown Sugar Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Frosting

• 1 1/3 cups flour  (or whole-wheat pastry flour)

• 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• pinch of nutmeg

• 1 egg

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed

• ¼ cup sour cream

• ½ cup butter, melted

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you want to make the parchment paper liners like I did, cut brown parchment paper into 5-inch squares.  Place them into the muffin tins and press them in.  Spray them with cooking spray to hold them in place.  Although, the paper may not stay down but don’t worry. When you scoop the dough in, the paper will stay in the tins. Be careful when you scoop the batter, making sure you don’t get a lot of dough on the top edges of the paper.

- Combine dry flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside.

-  In a bowl, whisk egg and add brown sugar, mixing until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract. Add sour cream and melted butter and mix. Stir in dry ingredients, then add mashed bananas and mix until batter comes together.   it is a thick batter, don’t worry.

- Using an ice-cream scoop (or ¼ cup) I held the parchment down and scooped the dough in each tin. Fill 3/4 of the way full.

- Bake for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely. 

-TIP: It’s okay if the parchment paper turns black where the dough hit the edges.  That burnt batter should scrap right off the paper after it cools so it will then look clean!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Frosting

• ½ cups Butter, softened
• 4 cups Powdered Sugar (add more if desired)
• ¼-1/2 cups Milk
• ½ cups Peanut Butter
• pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ounces Unsweetened Dark Chocolate

 - In a mixer, combine the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk. Mix until combined. 

  - Add the peanut butter and the chocolate and whip to a creamy frosting.

- Frost the cooled cupcakes.  I garnished with a banana chip and either toffee bits or chopped honey roasted peanuts.

 

 

 

Present them in a way that will make even those sad people like me that do not always eat cake want try them.