Unbelievably soft banana cupcakes are frosted with a creamy peanut butter cream cheese frosting that’s kissed with honey, and drizzled with chocolate!
This cupcake is so unique and delicious! The cake is moist, light, and soft… with the perfect amount of fresh banana flavor. And the frosting… just WOW. Creamy and smooth, full of peanut butter flavor, and laced with honey and cinnamon, it compliments the cupcake beautifully!
Could I be any more obsessed with cupcakes? I doubt it lol. I love taking yummy desserts and turning them into cupcakes! That’s how these banana cupcakes came to be… Chiquita bananas challenged me to come up with a fantastic recipe that uses Chiquita bananas, cream cheese, and chocolate chips. Challenge accepted!
One of the reason I love posts like these is that it makes me feel like I’m a contestant on Chopped! Do you guys ever watch that show? In case you don’t, here’s the breakdown: it’s a cooking competition on the Food Network that challenges a group of chefs to create a dish that will “wow” the judges, but the trick is that they have to use the ingredients in their baskets. Sometimes, the ingredients are pretty crazy and it’s amazing how creative the chefs are!!
Thankfully, this time… the ingredients I was given to work with are pretty much made for each other 🙂 These cupcakes practically made themselves!
I actually made two separate versions of these cupcakes… one a simple banana cupcake, and the other a banana cupcake studded with chocolate chips! Bananas and chocolate go together so well!
The trick to making these unbelievably soft and fluffy is twofold… using cake flour, and whipping egg whites. Don’t let either of those scare you. Cake flour is relatively inexpensive, and whipping egg whites to stiff peaks takes very little time. Then all you have to do is gently fold them into the batter. No biggie 🙂
Of course I couldn’t help myself, and melted some chocolate chips down and drizzled them allllllll over the tops of some of the cupcakes… just to be extra decadent 😉
Is it bad that I just had the urge to lick my screen? Wait, uhhhh, forget I said that…. I mean, “mmmm chocolate….“.
Seriously though, these cupcakes are the softest and lightest cupcakes I’ve ever made! And I’ve made some pretty awesome cupcakes in the past… Soft Vanilla Cupcakes, Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes, and Guinness and Bailey’s Chocolate Cupcakes!
As good as the cupcakes themselves are… the frosting is one of my favorites! It’s a cream cheese frosting swirled with creamy peanut butter and cinnamon, and drizzled with honey. My kids literally licked ALL the frosting off their cupcakes before eating them!
The next time you have some reallllly ripe bananas and are looking for something great to make, remember these cupcakes… you won’t regret making them!
Have some bananas, but they aren’t ripe yet? Check out THIS link for ways to make your bananas ripen on your schedule 😉
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This is a post written by The Chunky Chef on behalf of Chiquita. As always, all opinions expressed are that of The Chunky Chef.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup cake flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 3 very ripe bananas mashed
- 3 eggs separated
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Dash of cinnamon
- Dash of ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips optional
- PEANUT BUTTER CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
- 3/4 cup peanut butter
- 4 Tbsp butter room temperature
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar whisked to remove any clumps
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1-3 Tbsp heavy cream or half and half
- Drizzle of honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with liners and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
- Separate eggs and place yolks in a small bowl and whites in the bottom of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
- Turn mixer on to MED speed and whip egg whites until white and stiff peaks form. Scoop out, place in a bowl and set aside.
- Fit mixer with the paddle attachment and cream together butter and sugars until butter becomes lighter in color.
- Add in egg yolks, vanilla, and mashed bananas and mix to combine.
- Mix in flour mixture until just combined.
- Slowly mix in one third of the whipped egg whites.
- By hand, gently and carefully fold in the remaining whipped egg whites.
- If using chocolate chips, stir them in.
- Scoop batter into prepared muffin liners, filling each cup about two thirds of the way.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for 3 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- MAKE THE FROSTING:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and beat until light in color.
- Add in softened cream cheese and beat until combined.
- Add in peanut butter and beat until combined.
- Add in honey, cinnamon, vanilla, and heavy cream, beat until combined.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and beat until combined.
- Repeat with remaining powdered sugar.
- If necessary, add additional heavy cream until desired frosting consistency.
- Turn mixer to MED speed and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Scoop frosting into piping bag fitted with a decorating tip and frost as desired.
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Chef Tips
** Recipe can be made with a hand mixer instead
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Exotic Fruits says
This is my second time making these, they are absolutely delicious! They also freeze very well. Everyone loves them, and my son requested them again! Thank you for the great cupcake recipe!
Avril Levendall says
Hi may I use this recipe for a big cake as well?
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Avril 🙂 I’ve never tried to do that, so I can’t say for certain.
Khava says
Hi! Going to give these a go without weight measurements and I’m curious if you have any guidlines around this ie large bananas as opposed to smaller bananas (does that matter and if it does how many cups or weight is used)?
The Chunky Chef says
Hi there 🙂 The bananas around here are pretty medium sized, so I would say you’re looking for 1 to 1 1/3 cups of mashed bananas.
Connie says
I made these last night and followed the instructions exactly with the exception of beating the egg whites and folding them in, I was in a bit of a hurry so I just added the whole eggs to the beaten butter and sugar and beat on medium high for a couple of minutes, they turned out awesome! As for the frosting I added a bit more peanut butter and heavy cream than called for and it piped perfectly, was light, fluffy and delicious! I also melted some dark chocolate chips with a bit of coconut oil and drizzled on top. I’ll definitely be making these again, thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Khadija says
Can I get this recipe in grams please?
Thanks
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Khadija 🙂 90% of my audience is from the US, where we don’t use grams, which is why I wrote the recipe the way I have… and I’m laid up with a broken kneecap at the moment, so my best advice would be to input the ingredients into a free converter (use Google), and it will do the work for you.
Jamie says
Can I make the cupcakes a day ahead of time then frost? Can I pre-make the frosting and refrigerate or would it be best to make before frosting? What is the best way to store cupcakes after frosted?
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Jamie 🙂 While I’ve never made these particular cupcakes ahead of time, I’ve done it with various other cupcakes, with much success. I like to bake the cupcakes, then let them cool completely. Once cool, I wrap them individually with plastic wrap, then place into large ziploc bags and freeze. When you want to frost them, take them out of the fridge at room temp for about 30 minutes, and they’ll be thawed and ready to frost. If you’d like to make the frosting ahead of time, I think it would be okay, just keep it covered in the refrigerator. Before frosting cupcakes, take it out to warm up to room temperature, then beat it in your mixer for a few minutes to get light and fluffy. Once you’ve frosted the cupcakes, I like to keep them covered in the refrigerator (since this frosting has cream cheese). Best of luck!
Sarah says
I was really excited to try this recipe abd super disappointed when it didn’t turn out. Maybe you can help me figure out where I went wrong So I can try again.
My cakes turned out very dense, more like banana bread than the soft fluffy cakes you describe. They were also very oily. When I took them out of the muffin tin, The bottoms of the wrappers we’re completely coated in oil.
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Sarah, I’m so sorry to hear these didn’t turn out for you 🙁 I can certainly do my best to troubleshoot, although it’s hard since I’m not there baking with you. Did you follow the recipe exactly? There are a few things that could have contributed to them being dense… using all purpose flour instead of cake flour, using baking soda/powder that’s old or overmixing the batter. The only thing I can think of that would make them oily would be maybe the butter was too soft? As you can see from the pictures, they shouldn’t be oily :/
Sarah says
Well, I just came back to give this recipe another go and I found my glaring error. Apparently I was a little sleepy during my first try and ended up putting 1/2 LB of butter instead of half a cup! No wonder they were oily!!!
The frosting was to die for though, so I knew I had to give this one another shot. Glad I came back to re-read the recipe. Thanks!
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Sarah 🙂 Oh my goodness you must have had such an oily mess! I’m so glad you came back 🙂 I’ve done things like that before too, it’s easy to overlook.
Emily says
This recipe is Delish! Just made them. One issue though, your directions don’t tell me when to add the flour mixture or the spices. I want to make these again, but would like to know exactly how to do it. Thank u so much!
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Emily 🙂 Ohh wow I am so sorry that I left that part out!! Man, what a brain fart! You add the spices to the flour mixture before you whisk it to combine, and add the flour mixture into the batter after you mix in the egg yolks and mashed bananas. Even with my error, I’m so glad you liked the cupcakes!!