Banana Cupcakes With Caramel Buttercream Recipes

BANANA CUPCAKES WITH CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.
• Reduce speed to low. Mix mashed bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Stir pecans into batter. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.
• Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks. (Unfrosted cupcakes will keep, covered, for up to 3 days.) Once cupcakes are cool, frost tops with caramel buttercream. Frosted cupcakes will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 days. Top with banana slices before serving.

BANANA AND VANILLA CUPCAKES WITH BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl; set aside. Beat 1/2 cup butter and the white sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, allowing each to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla with the last egg. Pour in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing until just incorporated. Fold in the chopped bananas, mixing just enough to evenly combine. Pour the batter into prepared cups.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
• While the cupcakes are cooling, make the buttercream by beating 2/3 cup of butter in a bowl until smooth and glossy. Beat in the vanilla, followed by the confectioners' sugar. Once no dry lumps of sugar remain, add the cream and food coloring. Whip on high speed until light and fluffy. Frost the cooled cupcakes with the buttercream frosting.

CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM FOR BANANA CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Bring 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar and the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Wash sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming. Cook, undisturbed, until caramel is dark amber. Remove from heat, and slowly add cream, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth. Let cool.
• Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
• Place whites and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer.
• Remove from heat, and attach bowl to a mixer. Whisk on medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, and add beaten butter, cup at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in vanilla.
• Switch to paddle attachment. With mixer on low speed, add caramel, and beat until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes.