Call me, maybe?

What can you do with four extremely ripe bananas?  Well, for one thing, you can dance around with a banana held up to your ear singing Call Me, Maybe for a few rounds.  That will probably get pretty old for most people, unless you're a member of the Cornell class of 2007 and were at reunions this past weekend.  (To all who were worried about me...I survived but RIP voice.  GO BIG RED).  Fortunately, for those who are not as amused by Carly Rae, there are many other options!  You can put bananas into practically any type of not-so-healthy food to make yourself feel better about eating them: waffles, pancakes, bread, smoothies, ice cream sundaes, and of course, cupcakes.

Side note: Please tell me someone has seen the Despicable Me 2 trailer...it keeps running through my head as I'm writing this post.  If you haven't...enjoy.  You'll understand after you see it. 

This recipe is adapted from browneyedbaker.com.  It's a great banana bread-like cupcake that is a bit lighter and sweeter than its bread version.  I definitely want to try pairing the cupcake with pastry cream like she suggests.  Another must try is with peanut butter frosting...banana with peanut butter is hands down one of my favorite combinations.  For this batch, I was fairly short on time and wasn't able to get my act together early enough to go big.  Actually, it was out of sheer luck that I had powdered sugar in the pantry.  I ended up just making my favorite vanilla buttercream and they turned out great.

So, since this is still the very beginnings of Pooncakes, I decided I would throw in an interesting baking quirk I have in each post.  This will be a good way for you to understand why I do things in certain ways.   Last week was my preference for mini-cupcakes...this time, it's NOT OVER-BAKING.  Yes, caps lock and all my friends.  Over-baking is a sure-fire way to dry out any baked good.  I don't always use the toothpick method (if the toothpick comes out clean it's done!) - sometimes I just push the top of the cupcake and if it feels firm-ish it's good to go.  I also mentioned in the last post that you really want to take the cupcakes out of the tin as soon as possible - if you let them sit in the tin while the tin cools, you're actually allowing the cupcakes to cook further.  A butter knife or small off-set spatulas are good helpers.  I'm being totally serious...I'd rather burn my fingerprints off before letting my cupcakes over-bake!


Banana Cupcakes
Yield: ~80 pooncakes

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (about 4), the riper the better
½ cup buttermilk or buttermilk substitute

Preheat the oven to 325° and line cupcake tins.

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

In another bowl or the bowl of a standup mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy.  Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy.  Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at at time, allowing each egg to be incorporated before adding the next.  Add your bananas and mix until combined.

Add the dry ingredient mixture and buttermilk in alternating additions, starting and ending with the flour mix.  The dry ingredients are added in three additions while the buttermilk in two additions.  Add buttermilk when the batter is still streaked with flour.  You can do this while your mixer is on low or you can turn your mixer off, make the addition, and then turn it on again.  Scrape down the bowl and mix on low until all ingredients are just combined.

Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full and bake for 15-18 minutes depending on your oven - some browning on the top of the cupcakes is good!  Remove the cupcakes from the tins and onto a cooling rack as soon as possible and allow to cool completely.


Vanilla Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (lime juice can also be used)

In a medium bowl or the bowl of a standup mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and salt until creamy.  Add half of the confectioner's sugar as well as the milk and beat until well combined.  Scrape the bowl and add the remaining confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice.  Beat well.  Scrape down the bowl again and beat on high until the buttercream is light and fluffy, about 4 - 6 minutes.  You can always add a bit more milk if you feel the buttercream is too heavy, but be careful because you can't take it back!  Decorate your cupcakes and devour.


Tiffany

P.S. - Please excuse the not-so-awesome photos...still trying to figure out all these crazy camera settings!  These were taken in my kitchen at night with no other lighting so they came out a bit yellow-y.  Unexpected.