Food Hero: Banana Cupcakes with Walnuts

This week I thought we were due for a little treat!

The other day I found myself staring at my fruit basket. I noticed the bunch of bananas that I hadn’t gotten around to eating yet. I thought to myself, “What better than a gorgeous baked treat!”

So I created this new recipe, to ensure the most deliciously moist and satisfying cupcake.  I kept the liquid level high and the sugar level relatively low so that I wouldn’t feel too bad having more than one cake!

I love working with brown sugar and honey because I find it gives that richness and depth that you don’t always get from just plain refined sugars.

Also, this brought two of my favourite ingredients cinnamon and honey.  I LOVE that combination!

So here is how you go about making these divine delights!

Makes about 30 Cupcakes

Baking time: 20-25 min

Oven Temp: 180^C Fan forced

What you will need:

1 large mixing bowl

1 wooden spoon

1 measuring jug/cup

Cupcake/muffin trays (I used 3 trays of 12)

Cupcake/muffin cases (30 – 36)

Ingredients:

6x ripe bananas – mashed

2 cups plain flour – sifted

1 cup self raising flour – sifted

1 – 1.5 cups brown sugar

250ml vegetable oil

¼ cup milk

4 eggs

1 tablespoons honey

1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon

Walnuts to top, or you can mix through mixture.

Method:

This is the easiest part!

Just add the bananas to the bowl and mash with a fork until creamy. I like leaving some chunks in the bananas to add texture to the cake.

Add all the other ingredients, beat the eggs separately with a fork then add to the mixture.

Combine well with a wooden spoon. You could use an electric mixer, or like I do, just brisk stir for a minute or two.

Add 1 scoop of mixture to each cupcake case.

HELPFUL HINT: I make lots of cupcakes for different occasions every week and I have found the most exact method for filling cupcakes. I bought an ice cream scoop with the paddle that ejects the mixture. You can pick one up from your local supermarket if you don’t have one , they are about $7.00.  I use 1 full scoop in each case and the cases I use are 500mm wide X 700mm tall.

If you don’t know the measurements of your cases, that’s fine, just fill to about ¾ full and you should get level full cupcakes.

I then topped each cake with 1 – 2 pieces of walnuts and baked in a pre-heated oven.

You can decorate with a frosting of your choice. However, I found that they were so lovely and moist that they only needed a dusting of icing sugar and they were perfect to serve.

Allow to cool completely before serving, or they are even better the next day!

They are also great for freezing and for any party occasion!

Enjoy!

Food Hero.

I’d love to know how you went with this recipe in the comments below!