Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Banana cake...you either love it or not! One of my kids wouldn't touch this cupcake, and the other loved it. I have to admit, there was a time when I didn't really care for banana anything. Just give me a straight banana, please, with a side of peanut butter! But, alas, all things change in time and I, too, have become a banana convert.

This simple old fashioned recipe was found in one of our local Bucks County magazines recently. It was a family recipe and I was taken by how quickly and easily it went together. Basically you just throw everything into the mixing bowl  and beat it together til it's combined...how easy is that? ( Wait...I stole that line from..?!)

The original recipe was to make a two layer cake but I made a few changes.  I chose to halve the recipe and make 6 jumbo cupcakes. I can see that it would make a great cake, though. And, to the frosting I added a little cinnamon to give it a tiny boost of flavor. One last addition, which I didn't use but would next time, would be to include some nuts. I think walnuts would be a welcome addition and give it that ever lovin' crunch that I'm always craving! But that's just me. You may not love walnuts and want to leave them out. That's up to you. That's the fun part about baking. Throw in what you love...leave out what you don't!

Place the dry ingredients into your mxing bowl and add the butter, buttermilk, mashed banana and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes.
Add the eggs and beat another 2 minutes, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl once or twice to be sure everything is well combined. If you're adding nuts, just stir them in now.
That's it!

Scoop the batter into cupcake liners, filling them equally.
Bake approx. 20 minutes or til tester comes out clean.

Let them cool completely before frosting.

Make the frosting by just combining the ingredients in a small bowl and beating til it's all combined.

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 6 jumbo cupcakes or 12 regular size cupcakes
Note: To make this recipe for a two layer cake, double all of the ingredients below and pour the batter into 2 grease and floured 9" cake pans. Your baking times will be longer

1 1/4 cups ( 5.7 ozs.) AP flour
3/4 cups sugar
generous 1/2 tsp. baking powder
generous 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup ( 5 tbsp. plus 1 tsp.) softened butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup mashed bananas ( approx. 1 1/2 bananas)
1 large egg
Frosting, see below
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Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350.

1. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl. Make sure it's all mixed thoroughly, then add the butter, buttermilk, vanilla and mashed bananas and mix on low to start out to combine, then increase speed to medium high and beat for 2 minutes.
2. Add the egg and continue to beat for an additional 2 minutes.
3. Scoop the batter into your prepared muffin liners.
4. Bake for approx. 20 minutes, testing with a toothpick for doneness.
5. Cool a few minutes in the pan, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.
Frosting:
4 ozs. cream cheese, room temp.
3 tbsp. softened butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
dash of cinnamon ( approx. 1/4 tsp.)
In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter til smooth. Beat in the vanilla and lemon juice, then beat in the confectioners' sugar til it's a nice smooth consistency, adding more sugar if too thin. Decorate and enjoy!