Banana Cupcakes

I decided to participate in May's Cooking Club Challenge hosted by Food Network Canada because they were making Anna Olson's White Chocolate Banana Loaf! There were a few mixed opinions about this recipe, but I made it anyway because I'm not sure when FN Canada will have another baking recipe. Since this recipe uses cake and pastry flour, I thought it could work well as a cupcake and frosted them with Martha's honey-cinnamon frosting I saw on Hannah's gorgeous blog, Honey and Jam. Other than the frosting and omitting the white chocolate chips from the batter, I followed the recipe.

I have to admit that I was disappointed with these banana cupcakes, especially since my kitchen was smelling so yummy while they were baking. The texture was a little too springy and loose, but not in a fluffy kind of way. Maybe it's because I'm used to banana breads being dense yet tender and super moist. Even as a cupcake, the texture seemed kind of off. I think it might be the cake flour or baking powder because this recipe has a very similar ratio of ingredients as my favourite banana bread recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbook. I thought that the honey and cinnamon frosting complimented the banana flavour really well though! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another baking recipe for June!


Banana White Chocolate Loaf

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups pastry flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup white chocolate, chopped, plus some for drizzling (I omitted)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 6 ½ x 3-inch loaf pan. (I used a muffin tin)
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with banana.
4. Fold in chopped white chocolate (I omitted). Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly (I used a large cookie scoop = 3 tbsp and got 12 cupcakes)
5. Bake for 30 minutes (it took me 15 minutes) until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a plate.

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
(I added 2 tbsps of milk for a softer consistency)

1. Cream butter on medium high until there are no lumps and fluffy
2. Add sugar, cinnamon and honey on low. Continue beating on medium low speed until fluffy
3. Add milk by the tablespoon until desired consistency is reached