Last week, I was having a major banana bread craving. I go crazy over anything banana flavored and banana bread is one of my favorite things…if it’s made right. I have had a lot of dry or flavorless banana bread in my time. I was on a quest some time back (I think before I started this blog even) to bake a mind blowing banana bread and I came pretty close a few times, but I wanted to try something new now that I have learned a bit more as a baker.
Recently, I checked out the cookbook called “Duff Bakes” by baker Duff Goldman, who is a Food Network legend and all around cool dude. It is so much more than a cookbook. In the beginning of the book, he takes time to explain the chemistry of baking. He explains the different ingredients, including every type of flour, and what each one does and the best time to use it. Since I was feeling brave, I decided to take an amazing banana bread recipe and tweak it to turn it into epic banana cupcakes. I LOVED the result and so did my family. My Fiance even requested the vanilla cupcakes be replaced with these at our wedding! I was so flattered that I said yes immediately. After all, banana bread seems fitting for a fall wedding. I used a leftover frosting I had and turned it into almost a glaze, however, I am still considering different frostings for the big day and I’m sure we’ll be experimenting more before then and sharing the results on the blog.
I am not necessarily a huge cinnamon fan, but I definitely think it has its place and it can really enhance certain recipes. Banana bread is one of those recipes. Even though I was going for a “contemporary” banana bread, I still felt cinnamon would kick it up a notch and give it that fall flavor profile I have been craving. I also decided to mix the dry ingredients first since I didn’t was the flour over worked and I also wanted to coat the butterscotch chips in the dry mix since coating them in flour helps them so they don’t sink to the bottom. I can’t remember where I read that baking tip, but it has been really helpful. Coat your mix-ins in the dry ingredients so they don’t sink. It works pretty well, but not perfectly. I admit that they sunk a bit more than I wanted in this recipe, but they weren’t all at the bottom so that was a definite plus!
Next, I mashed up those super ripe bananas and got started on the wet ingredients. The recipe I was going off of called for a certain measurement of ripe mashed bananas, but I don’t play that way. Way too much work. I decided to go with three large ones and then see how I liked the texture of the batter. Three was the magic number!
Once I had my wet ingredients mixed, I added in the mashed banana and combined it all thoroughly. Now I was ready to add the dry. I learned that sometimes, it’s good not to over mix and in this case, I decided to mix just until incorporated. I think it was the right choice because they turned out nice and tender. I attribute this partly to using cake flour, which is finer. It is also a lower protein flour and its gluten forms more as you mix it. Since I wanted it to be moist, I mixed it as little as possible so the gluten wouldn’t make the batter tough once baked.
After combining the wet and dry ingredients, I lined a cupcake pan with liners and baked it up. The batter didn’t rise a ton, so it’s safe to fill them to 3/4 instead of the usual 2/3 full.
Twenty minutes of bake time was just right to give them the golden brown edges. They were cooked through nicely and they were amazingly moist with an explosive banana flavor! My dad called it “illegal banana bread” because it was so good, and you already know what my man thought of these. I can’t wait to have these at our wedding and tell our families that we made these ourselves. Now to find the magic frosting that these need……..
Banana Bread Cupcake Recipe
- 1 c. all purpose flour
- 1 c. cake flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 c. butterscotch OR peanut butter baking chips
- 3 large overripe bananas, mashed
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
- 3/4 c. granulated sugar
- 3/4 c. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 c. buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350. This makes about 22 cupcakes.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix them together thoroughly and then add in the baking chips and coat them in the the dry ingredients.
In a bowl, mash the three rip bananas with a fork until they are almost liquid. A few lumps are fine. Alternatively, you can blend them for a minute to mash them up instead.
In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until creamy and add in the sugars. Cream the butter and sugars before adding in the vanilla and beaten eggs. Beat together thoroughly and beat in the buttermilk. Now you’re ready to mix in the mashed bananas. This can easily be done by hand.
Dump your dry ingredient mixture into your wet ingredients bowl and gently fold it together just until combined- you don’t want the gluten to form and make it tough.
Once everything is combined, line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and fill the cups 3/4 of the way full. NOTE: This batter doesn’t rise as much, so you have to fill the cups a bit more than normal. Once they’re all full, pop them in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let them cool completely before frosting with your frosting of choice.
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