banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Oh, these cupcakes. I had been planning on making them for quite sometime, but just had somehow never gotten around to going for it. Awhile back, I purchased a small stack of little terra cotta pots for a craft project that I was thinking about doing, but never had done. And so, what better way to use them than as an adorable holding device for freshly-baked cupcakes?

I don't know why, but I always seem to buy more bananas each week than I can possibly eat, so yet again I had a few deep brown and squishy ones that had to be used quickly or they would have to be tossed in the compost. My three year-old was more than happy to mash them up and assist me in making this batch of sweet banana cupcakes.

Alice stopped by right as I was starting to make my favorite frosting on earth, classic vanilla cream cheese, which she kindly mixed with me and swirled in creamy dollops on top of the cupcakes. And of course, since these were presented in flower pots, they just had to be topped with little flowers. Because, you know, that's how we do things around here.

Note: These were not baked inside the pots- just inside a standard cupcake tin. They were stuck in the pots once cooled and then frosted.







Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting: recipe adapted from Cupcake Bakeshop

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 small bananas
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. With a blender or food processor, blend banana and buttermilk until the banana is broken up (alternately, you can just mash them together well). Combine banana/buttermilk, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Fold dry mixture into the wet mixture.

Scoop out into cupcake papers. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

Cream Cheese Frosting: Combine 6 ounces or 3/4 package of cream cheese, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and a half stick of room temperature butter. Beat until creamy. Gradually add 2 cups of powdered sugar. Add 2-3 more cups until desired consistency is reached. Beat well.