Bananas Foster Cupcakes and the Lazy Man’s Brown Sugar Buttercream (deliciousness and calories galore)

Hi everyone! We’ve been busy around here trying to get plans finalized for BirthdayBee’s party (I can’t believe it’s only a month and a half away, and right now we’re looking at a pretty ridiculously large guest list), working on ideas for a friend’s baby shower, trying to learn German (the big trip is in May), and playing with the new Cricut my fantastic husband bought me.

I was forced to take a little break last night when an upset stomach kept me home from cake decorating class. I had made cupcakes to bring in to practice making little icing roses on, and since they ended up not going to class with me, we thought we might as well eat a couple. Holy cats, were those things good! So good, in fact, that I didn’t get a picture of them before they were devoured and/or sent to work with D to get the calories out of the house. Well, we sent most of them to work. I had one for breakfast. I refuse to calculate the Weight Watcher’s points on these.

I wanted to make Georgia Pellegrini’s recipe, but wanted to use the coconut rum we had here in the house, and also wanted to add a lot of brown sugar and molasses flavor, as the brown-sugary flavor is such a vital part of Bananas Foster for me. Besides that, using the coconut rum instead of dark rum meant that there was no source of umami in the recipe, so using a little molasses cured that.

I had an idea to make a brown sugar buttercream or penuche frosting, but ended up making frosting while holding a grumpy 10-month-old who is afraid of the mixer, so had to come up with a good shortcut. I really liked the result!

Here, by request, is the recipe:

Bananas Foster Cupcakes (adapted from the recipe by Georgia Pellegrini)

FOR THE CUPCAKE:
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 stick butter, room temperature
1/2 c brown sugar
1/8 c white sugar (for the egg whites)
1/2 t coconut rum
1/2 c coconut milk
1 T molasses
4 egg whites
1 large ripe banana, smashed

FOR THE CREAM FILLING:
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c flour
3 egg yolks
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c coconut milk (or remaining coconut milk and enough cow’s milk to bring the volume to 1 1/2 c)
2 t coconut rum
a little drizzle of molasses (maybe a teaspoon?)
2 t vanilla
2 T butter

FOR THE ICING:
3/4 c butter, room temperature
1 lb powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt (more if using unsalted butter)
molasses to taste (I probably used about 1 1/2 T)
water or milk (I used water, as I was closer to the sink than to the fridge)

Preparation Instructions

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line one muffin pan with paper liners or butter and set aside. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, molasses, and rum until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the coconut milk, until just combined. Stir in the smashed banana. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy. Gradually add the 1/8 cup sugar and beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Gently fold a third of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture until combined. Then gently fold in the rest.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until the cupcakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and let cool.

For the cream filling:

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl, and stir well to mix so there are no lumps. Set aside.
Mix milk, vanilla, rum, and molasses together in a separate cup.

In a heavy saucepan, beat the egg yolks well with a whisk. Over low heat, add the flour mixture to the egg yolks, alternately with the milk mixture, stirring constantly and scraping the sides and corners of the saucepan as you go so the egg doesn’t cook. When the mixture begins to thicken, add the butter, continuing to stir. Keep stirring until mixture reaches a nice pudding consistency, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Fit a pastry bag with a small tip and fill it with the cream. Push the tip through the top of each cupcake and squeeze the pudding into the middle. You’ll need to apply a steady and firm pressure until you feel the cupcake start to give, then fill until the top of the cupcake rises and starts to crack a little. Don’t worry – you can cover it up with frosting later.
NOTE: If you are going to spread your frosting on with a knife, you’ll want to pipe the filling in from the bottom of the cupcake. I chose to pipe my frosting on so that I could go the lazy route, fill from the top, and not have to remove the cupcake wrappers.

For the icing:

Beat all of the ingredients (except water or milk) together in a bowl, adding molasses (and maybe a bit more salt) until you hit the right “brown sugary” flavor. The icing will be thick and pasty. Add water or milk, a little at a time, until you get the right texture. Pipe generously over cupcakes.