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Cupcakes & Cake

Chocolate & Banana Cupcakes with PB Buttercream

October 16, 2011November 7, 2023 9 comments

I’ve been dying to make peanut butter frosting for a while now.  I was waiting for a reason to make these, but then decided I needed no reason and just whipped some up.  I love this recipe because it’s a one bowl batter.  My FAVORITE kind.

Now, I wanted to make these really strong in banana flavor, so I used banana extract and did not add the typical spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc).  If you wanted to turn these into a muffin, I’d suggest adding a few spices, using a bit of brown sugar instead of white and creating a crumble for the top.  But, since I’m topping these with a peanut butter frosting, I really wanted a strong banana flavor not to be overwhelmed by the frosting.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
Makes 18 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
4 ripe medium bananas, smashed
2 large eggs
1/2 tbsp banana extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.  Line cupcake pan with liners.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  3. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add in the melted butter, bananas,  eggs, banana extract and sour cream.  Mix together with a whisk about 10 strokes.
  4. Add the chocolate chips. Switch to a spatula, scrape the sides of the bowl and mix another 10 strokes.
  5. Fill liners 2/3-3/4 full with batter.
  6. Bake 22-24 minutes or until tops of cupcakes are golden brown.
  7. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Makes enough to frost 18 cupcakes

12 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup peanut butter, heaping
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/3 cup milk or heavy cream
pinch of salt (optional)

melted chocolate
banana slices

  1. Cream the butter until smooth.  Add the peanut butter and cream together on high until smooth.
  2. 1/2 cup at a time, beat in the powdered sugar.  In between sugar additions, add 1-2 tbsp milk.  You may not need all the milk, but you will use all the sugar.  (I used the heavy whipping cream and only used about half of the 1/3 of a cup I poured out.)
  3. Add the pinch of salt and mix together until smooth and fluffy.  (The salt is added to cut the sweetness, if you like a super sweet frosting, omit the salt.)
  4. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.
  5. Drizzle melted chocolate over frosting and garnish with a fresh banana slice.

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9 comments

  1. Anita Johnson says:
    December 13, 2011 at 7:31 am

    Those cupcakes look a-m-a-z-i-n-g!! And, combining all the good stuff together — chocolate, banana and peanut butter — heaven!

    Reply
  2. Megan says:
    October 18, 2012 at 10:36 pm

    Could you just real bananas instead of a banana extract?

    Reply
    1. Betsy ~ @JavaCupcake says:
      October 18, 2012 at 11:14 pm

      Just use vanilla extract instead!

      Reply
  3. Sudy says:
    January 11, 2013 at 6:18 pm

    These cupcakes look AMAZING!!! I am so gonna make these. But quick question why do you melt the butter?

    Reply
    1. Betsy Eves says:
      January 15, 2013 at 11:07 am

      I prefer the crumb of the cupcake that doesn’t cream the butter! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Nasia says:
    September 14, 2016 at 5:02 pm

    What do put on the banana from not making them turn brown or you put nothing?

    Reply
    1. Betsy Eves says:
      September 20, 2016 at 11:36 pm

      I wait until serving the cupcakes to put the banana on top. I really don’t have any trick to keep them white and not turn brown.

      Reply
  5. Kerri says:
    July 29, 2017 at 3:21 pm

    Need Peanutbutter Buttercream to ice a 3-layer 8″ round cake. Will a single batch of your recipe cover it; if not is it safe to just double ingredients to make twice as much?

    Reply
    1. Betsy Eves says:
      September 17, 2017 at 9:43 pm

      I’d double to be safe. It always takes more than what you think you need. Yes – double the ingredients… however always start with less cream and add more as you need it.

      Reply

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