Banana Cupcakes with Honey & Cinnamon Frosting

I am always looking for new ways to use up ripening bananas. I do love me some banana bread, but it does get old after awhile - even when trying new twists on it.  On my fall cooking to-do list I have a banana cake that I want to try, but I thought it would be fun to do it in a cupcake version. I have been in this kick to try out a couple of new cupcake recipes a month (who wants to be my guinea pig?), and what better way to start then to try a classic flavor such as banana.

This cupcake was moist and dense and resembled the texture of banana bread. Of course you could eat these plain, but why eat them plain when you can have them with frosting! I thought a vanilla bean butter cream or a basic cream cheese frosting would be awesome on these, but it needed to be spiced up. Literally. Say hello to cinnamon and honey butter cream. It was the perfect match to the banana and was the best combination of sweet and spicy. It reminded me of honey butter, but better. I could probably smear this frosting on just about anything just like I could put honey butter on everything. But, don't worry. I don't. So simple, but so good.

hello spotty bananas

yum yum banana batter

ready to bake

frosted and dusted with chopped walnuts and cinnamon. oh, and a banana chip for extra love.

Banana Cupcakes with Honey & Cinnamon Frosting (slightly adapted from www.marthastewart.com)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), 2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Honey-Cinnamon Frosting (see below)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon or scoop batter into muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with Honey & Cinnamon Frosting. Just before serving stop cupcakes with chopped walnuts, a dusting of cinnamon and a banana chip (optional)

 

Honey & Cinnamon Frosting

1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 

In a medium bow, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, butter, honey and cinnamon until smooth - about 5 minutes.

These cupcakes were great, but I would love to try to make these lighter and fluffier. Here's to experimenting with leavening agents to make this winner even better! 

 

 Question - since this kind of resembles the banana cake, can I cross it off my baking to-do list? My gut says no. What do you think?