Bananas Foster Cupcakes

Val loves cupcakes, and Mani loves cinnamon. We went all Voltron with our kitchen powers yesterday to combine two of our food favorites. Bananas Foster Cupcakes was the delicious lovechild of our culinary experiment gone right.

We were pleasantly surprised by how good this recipe turned out. Neither of us have much baking experience or a real sweet tooth for that matter. Baking is such a precise science, and I guess we don't have the patience that it takes to meticulously measure out each and every ingredient. We prefer the thrill of flying by the seat of our pants in the kitchen, tossing a little more of this or that in the pot when it strikes our fancy. But these cupcakes were definitely worth the extra effort!

Over medium heat, add packed brown sugar, cinnamon and enough butter to make Paula Deen proud.

Add sliced bananas to the party and cook until tender.

Turn off the burner. Stir in dark rum and vanilla extract. Stand as far back as possible, and light the alcohol using a long match. Coat the bananas with the sauce.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and granulated sugar.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract to the banana mixture. Combine the butter and flour mixtures in your mixing bowl, add the banana mixtures and then mix thoroughly (without over-mixing). FYI, the recipe we used wasn't written very clearly for these steps, so we ad-libbed this portion.

Carefully spoon the batter into cupcake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Wait for the cupcakes to cool completely and frost them. We poured our frosting into a large ziplock bag, snipped the tip and went to town. Drizzle them with caramel sauce and sprinkle cinnamon on top.

Bananas Foster Cupcakes

Recipe by Food.com

(16 cupcakes)

INGREDIENTS

Banana Mixture

*3/4 cup unsalted butter

*1/2 cup brown sugar packed

*1/2 tsp cinnamon

*2 firm but ripe bananas, sliced

*2 tbsp dark rum (we added 4 tbsp for more flavor)

*1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cupcakes

*2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

*1 tsp baking soda

*1/4 tsp salt

*3/4 cup butter, softened

*1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

*3 eggs

*1 tsp vanilla extract

*1/2 tsp dark rum

*3/4 cup sour cream

DIRECTIONS

For the Bananas:
1. In a saute pan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
2. Cook until butter melts and sugar is dissolved (4 to 5 minutes).

3. Add the banana slices and cook until tender, turning once for 1 to 2 minutes per side.
4. Stir together rum and vanilla.
5. Turn off the burner and add the rum mixture to the pan.
6. Using a long match, light the alcohol by placing the flame just in the outer edge of the pan.
7. Stand as far back as possible. The flame should extingish in a few seconds.
8. Gently shake the pan from side to side to coat the bananas with the sauce.
9. Spoon the bananas into a bowl and set aside.

For the Cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. Add eggs, vanilla, rum and banana mixture. Mix well.
5. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream; blend thoroughly but do not overmix.
6. Pour into prepared cupcake pans.
7. Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. Cool for 1- minutes in pan on rack. Remove and cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

Recipe by Joelen's Culinary Adventures

(We preferred this recipe to food.com's)

*1/4 cup unsalted butter

*4 oz. cream cheese, softened
*2-3 tablespoons homemade or store bought caramel sauce
*4-6 cups confectioners or powdered sugar (we used 3 1/2 cups because we hate overly sweet frosting)

*1-2 tablespoons half & half

*Optional: We added 1-2 tsp of cinnamon

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and cream cheese together until fluffy; add the caramel sauce and beat until fully incorporated.

2. Slowly add confectioners or powdered sugar into the bowl, 1/2 cup at a time and beating after each addition. Continue adding the sugar until you have a thick frosting of your preferred consistency. 

3. If the frosting becomes too thick, add a tablespoon or more of half & half to thin out.