*Once again, I apologize for my crappy camera... a better one is in my near future. Perhaps after my tax refund?
I wanted to try something different when it came to cupcakes… well different for me.
I decided to do Strawberry Banana Cupcakes.
I wasn’t really that happy with the result. The batter was heavy so I knew it was going to be a dense “cupcake” (it basically turned into a muffin)
I think it had too much flour to it and it wasn’t that sweet, so the second batch I added a little extra buttermilk and sugar to the mix. The second batch was slightly better.
I’ll give you the recipe that I used anyway. This recipe makes 24 cupcakes.
½ cup butter softened
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 ¼ cups of flour (Like I said, I would reduce it by at least ½ cup)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ cp buttermilk
½ cup strawberry preserves
1 cup milk chocolate chips_
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees
*Place paper baking cups in 24 muffin cups. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar in bowl until light & fluffy. Beat in bananas, eggs, and vanilla.
*In separate bowl, sift flour, baking power, baking soda, and pinch of salt.
*Alternately add one third flour mix and half of buttermilk to butter mixture and end with flour mixture.
*Stir in strawberry preserves and chocolate chips.
*Divide batter into cups and bake for approx 23 minutes.
Sprinkles Strawberry Frosting (I had to double it to fit 24 cupcakes, but I made a little more than used, so I froze it)
1 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
2 cups unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
Pinch of coarse salt
6 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
*Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed.
* In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy.
* Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined.
*Add vanilla and 6 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended.
Since I didn’t like the way my cupcakes turned out. I poked a hole in the middle and added strawberry preserves to the middle. I put some strawberry preserves into a ziplock bag, cut a small hole on the edge and put it into the middle.
I didn’t do any fancy design with these cupcakes, mainly because I was so frustrated with the end result. I just used a cake spatula to spread the frosting over the cupcake (muffins).
I give this recipe a 2 ½ sprinkles out of 5 sprinkles. Maybe I’m being a bit too harsh, but I’m usually critical about my work.
