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Fact: the world is better with bananas

January 16, 2008 by Joy the Baker 26 Comments

Say you’re a 17 year old girl, and it’s your birthday.  If you can’t have a new car, a cute new boyfriend, or a hassle free day from your parents, what would be next on your list?  Probably, Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes. No?  You’d want one of those super skinny Macbook Airs?  Well let’s say, for the sake of… me, that you’d want Banana Cupcakes.  Let’s just pretend.  These little gems are far better than anything Steve Jobs could design.  Last time I checked, Steve Jobs didn’t make anything that tasted like both banana and chocolate. So… I rest my case.

Happy Birthday to you Carsen!  Maybe Steve Jobs will make your next birthday cake.  Cross your fingers, or something.

The recipe for this banana cake produces a super moist, but not super dense cake.  It doesn’t have the heaviness of banana bread, but it has all the delicious banana flavor.  The walnuts give the cupcakes lots of flavor and texture variation.  And the chocolate chunks?  I try to sneak chocolate into everything, and these were no exception.

Super Moist Banana Cake

Print this recipe!

1 cup butter, softened

2 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups ripe bananas, mashed

(about 4 medium bananas)

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350.  Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda.  Set aside.  Mash the bananas and add the sour cream. Set aside.  Cream the butter in the sugar until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each egg for 1 minute.  Scrape down the bowl after each addition.  Add the flour mixture alternately with the banana mixture, until just combined.  Fold in the nuts and chocolate.  Bake in cupcake papers, or a well greased and floured cupcake pan for 15- 20 minutes.  Check them after 15 minutes.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

8oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-4 tablespoons milk

4-6 cups powdered sugar

depending on desired consistency

Cream the butter and cream cheese together in an electric mixer.  (Be sure that the two are at room temperature.  Cold cream cheese or butter can make your frosting lumpy.)  Add the brown sugar and vanilla extract, and beat for about 2 minutes.  Turn off mixer and add 2 cups of powdered sugar.  Turn the mixer on a low speed so the sugar doesn’t fly out of the bowl.  Slowly add more sugar alternately with the milk until you reach your desired consistency.  I like my cupcake frosting to be slightly more thick than cake frosting, so it can hold its shape on the cupcake.

Because of the moist bananas in these cupcakes, they hold up very well in the freezer.   Bake them off, and tightly wrap unfrosted cupcakes for freezer storage.  Take them out and defrost as needed (you could even sneak them into the microwave for quick consumption) for a breakfast treat or unexpected company.  They’re delicious and flavorful with or without frosting!   Would I lie?  (No.)

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Filed Under: Cakes, Chocolate, Cupcakes, Fruit, Recipes

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  1. AmbalaCakes

    October 28, 2021 at 10:32 pm

    Tasty and healthy banana cakes

    Reply
  2. Sina

    February 3, 2011 at 9:50 am

    Joy. I just made them today because I needed to do something with those bananas we had and my mother wanted muffins.

    And, oh, how should I describe it? The world is better with Joy the Baker. Fact.

    Reply
    • laura

      January 22, 2013 at 4:43 pm

      You are right! Love Joy!

      Reply
  3. Lauren

    November 20, 2010 at 6:33 pm

    I made these without the frosting and they came out perfect. I am new to this blog and I can’t wait to bake my way through it!

    Reply
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Trackbacks

  1. Flanders in NZ 3 – Flanders Flat Warming Fiesta | Bridging the Gap says:
    May 14, 2014 at 4:34 am

    […] Its been over 2 weeks since landing, we moved into a new home, unpacked, mowed the lawn, bought a decorative porch plant (thanks Keith!), finally got our internet turned on…sounded like time for a Flanders Flat-Warming Fiesta! Saturday afternoon was beautiful autumn weather. We invited my colleagues and initiated a bake-off to which resulted in pumpkin pie, apple crisp, choc. chip & nutella cookies, and banana bread cupcakes(?…there was some debate to whether these should be named cupcakes or “muffins”). We discussed trying to use up the ripened bananas in the office so I brought a few home to make these. I still can’t believe last time around I lived in a motel with no oven for 6 months…now it is so much easier to bake! This was the first time I tried these types of cupcake-muffins with homemade cream cheese frosting, they were quite tasty if I do say so myself. Thanks to joythebaker’s recipe here. […]

    Reply
  2. Birthday banana cupcakes | Violet/Meyer says:
    March 1, 2014 at 1:55 pm

    […] adapted the banana cupcake recipe from Joy the Baker to be gluten free.  It’s so simple with Cup4Cup! Just use their gluten free flour instead […]

    Reply
  3. Buttermilk Red Velvet Cupcakes says:
    August 25, 2012 at 10:59 am

    […] your dancing shoes… « Slow Like Honey Previous Post Recipe Index Next […]

    Reply
  4. One « theroundtablekitchen says:
    May 17, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    […] friend Alexis I made a two-layer cake, took out the almond, and opted for more vanilla. I also used brown sugar buttercream (adapted from Joy the Baker) icing to increase the sugar content of my cake. Friends, I am in love […]

    Reply
  5. Chocolate Walnut Nana Cupcakes « Spoonful of Me says:
    January 8, 2012 at 10:49 am

    […] The recipe is from Joy the Baker and you can get it right here! […]

    Reply
  6. Day 29 of 130 « 130 days to 30 says:
    November 1, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    […] a Joy the Baker banana cake (https://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/01/fact-the-world-is-better-with-bananas) with brown sugar cream cheese buttercream (also Joy the Baker’s). Absolutely delicious! This […]

    Reply

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