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
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- 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.
- Add the chocolate chips. Switch to a spatula, scrape the sides of the bowl and mix another 10 strokes.
- Fill liners 2/3-3/4 full with batter.
- Bake 22-24 minutes or until tops of cupcakes are golden brown.
- 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
- Cream the butter until smooth. Add the peanut butter and cream together on high until smooth.
- 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.)
- 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.)
- Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.
- Drizzle melted chocolate over frosting and garnish with a fresh banana slice.
Those cupcakes look a-m-a-z-i-n-g!! And, combining all the good stuff together — chocolate, banana and peanut butter — heaven!
Could you just real bananas instead of a banana extract?
Just use vanilla extract instead!
These cupcakes look AMAZING!!! I am so gonna make these. But quick question why do you melt the butter?
I prefer the crumb of the cupcake that doesn’t cream the butter! 🙂
What do put on the banana from not making them turn brown or you put nothing?
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.
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?
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.