Banana Cupcakes

Colorado has seemed to skip over fall and just go straight into the dead of winter. So. Cold. I’ve got a new handy dandy snow scraper for my car though, so that’ll help at least! I think someone needs to come up with a car scraper that doubles as a heater that also shoots out warm water for a quick defrost! Can someone get on that and get back to me? I’ll make you cupcakes! Ok anyway. Hello friends! I am now 3 weeks into my 6 week book launch and feeling fantastic. A lot of you have already pre-ordered your copy and I could not be more thankful! I really hope you enjoy the pies and much as I enjoyed creating them. If you haven’t get done so, check out this link to reserve a copy today! 

Onto today’s recipe! I’ve been working on a good banana cake for a while now. Most of the ones out there that I’ve tried always seem so dense like banana bread to me. I wanted a lighter version that has good banana flavor that’s also light and fluffy! After tweaking this recipe a few times I think I’ve nailed it! The trick is to use cake flour my friends! Cake flour is a very finely ground wheat flour that produces a really delicate crumb. It’s perfect for this application! I’ve hallowed out the center of the baked cupcakes and filled it with an easy dulce de leche made with sweetened condensed milk. You can easily make dulce de leche by boiling sweetened condensed in the cans for a couple of hours. It really is quite easy! And then topped with a toasted swiss meringue! This cupcake is super easy, light as a cloud, and full of banana flavor. It’s a great cake recipe to keep in your arsenal, even if you want to change up the filling and frosting flavors! Chocolate or coffee would go fantastic with this cupcake as well! 

Banana Cupcakes with Dulce De Leche and Marshmallow Meringue

Yield 22 cupcakes

Banana Cupcakes

Butter, soft ½ cup

Veg. oil ¼ cup

Cake flour 2 ¾ cups

Sugar 1 2/3 cups

Baking powder 1 Tbsp

Salt ¾ tsp

Egg whites 4

Eggs 1

Bananas 2 small (1 cup mashed)

Vanilla 1 tsp

Dulce De Leche

Sweetened Condensed Milk 2 cans

Marshmallow Meringue

Whites 5

Sugar 2 cups

Vanilla 1 tsp

Directions:

Begin with making the dulce de leche. Boil sweetened condensed milk cans for 4 hours in the sealed can. During this process the water will evaporate several times, be sure to keep refilling the water so the can stays submerged throughout the cooking process.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

To make the banana cupcakes, cream butter, oil and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add in egg then egg whites, one at a time until mixed. Scrape down the sides as needed.

Combine cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Whisk to combine and then add to the stand mixer. Add vanilla and mashed banana last.

Line muffin tins with liners. Scoop or spoon batter to ¾ of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Once baked, take a large flat piping tip and remove the core of the banana cupcake while it’s still warm.

Once cupcakes have fully cooled, fill the banana cupcakes with about 1 tsp of dulce de leche. Place the dulce de leche in a piping back to easily pipe into the cupcakes.

To make the marshmallow meringue, place a saucepot with an inch full of water on high. Place whites in a comparable size metal mixing bowl and place over the top of the sauce pot, creating a double boiler. Add in sugar slowly while whisking, so that the sugar fully dissolves into the whites. Continue to do so until the sugar is fully dissolved and no grains are left.

Transfer the whites to a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on high until you reach stiff peaks. Add vanilla and whisk until combined.

Transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large flat tip and pipe meringue onto cupcakes.

Lightly torch the top. Serve and enjoy!