Baking · Buttercream and Frosting · Chocolate · Cupcakes

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

What Jessica Baked Next

Sweet and sticky banana cupcakes with classic tangy cream cheese frosting. A delicious treat topped with banana slices and milk chocolate chips!

DSC09420

Say hello to my new favourite cupcake recipe! Sticky, buttery, moist and with a gorgeous banana flavour in each and every bite! A great bake to make when you have leftover over ripe bananas sat in your fruit bowl. These are extremely good topped with my go-to fluffy cream cheese frosting and scattered with milk chocolate chips!

These are definitely some the moistest cupcakes I’ve ever eaten and made. I much prefer banana cupcakes to homemade banana bread – which can have a drier texture. These cupcakes are just 100 x lighter and more enjoyable – plus they’re SO much easier to make, quick to bake and they taste even better! The 1/2 tsp addition of ground cinnamon in the cupcake batter is secret for the most incredibly flavoured banana cupcakes. I can’t imagine any banana bake without cinnamon added!

My sister made me chuckle she enjoyed these cupcakes so much and exclaimed “because these have banana in, it makes them healthy right?”. I couldn’t agree with that any more – so lets just forget about all the frosting and chocolate chips…I’ll take the whole tray quite happily!

DSC09416

This cream cheese frosting is pretty delicious too, so much so I could totally eat it straight from the bowl with a spoon. (Anyone else guilty of that?)

It’s fluffy and airy! I’m really happy to finally perfect cream cheese frosting. Before this recipe I’ve tried others and I always seemed to end up with lumpy or runny frosting. But this frosting recipe is great and the bonus is you cannot go wrong with it! I piped beautiful swirls on each cupcake but you can also just spread the frosting on each cupcake with a knife! If you fancy a twist add some Nutella or other chocolate spread to the top of the cupcake before icing.

Ingredients:

Banana Cupcakes:

120g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

200g (1 cup) granulated or caster sugar

2 free-range eggs, at room temperature

120g (1/2 cup) sour cream – Greek yoghurt or buttermilk can be used too

2 medium ripe bananas, mashed

180g (1 and 1/2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Cream Cheese Frosting:

60g (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

200g (1 3/4 cups) icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

400g (14 oz) cream cheese, softened

Banana slices

Fudge cubes, chopped nuts or chocolate chips

Method:

1. To make the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C / 160°C Fan / Gas Mark 4. Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with paper liners.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add the softened butter, sugar and vanilla. Cream on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Now add the eggs one by one, making each egg is incorporated before you add the next.

3. Now add the sour cream and mashed banana and mix again until combined. In a small bowl mix together the sifted flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add to the mixer and mix on a medium speed for 1-2 minutes.

4. Take an ice cream scoop and distribute the cupcake batter between the paper liners. Make sure you fill 2/3 of the way up. Bake in the oven for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out completely clean of any uncooked batter. Once cooked through allow the cupcakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove and leave to cool on a wire rack.

5. To make the cream cheese frosting: In a stand mixer add the softened butter. Cream on medium speed for about 2 minutes to soften. Now add the icing sugar and vanilla and starting on a low speed mix to combine. Continue to cream for 5 minutes or until really pale in colour – stop the mixer halfway through to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

6. Once creamed add the softened cream cheese. Turn the mixer up and beat on high speed for approx. 2-3 minutes or until the frosting is thick, smooth and creamy. Once ready, fit a piping bag with your favourite nozzle. Fill the bag with the homemade frosting. Pipe onto each cupcake or simply spread two tablespoons of the frosting on each cupcake, if preferred.

7. Finish by decorating the cupcakes with a banana slice, chopped nuts or some chocolate chips.

Banana cupcake recipe adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

DSC09427

DSC09484

Enjoy!

jess

Keep up to date with me on:

Like my Facebook page here 

Instagram: @whatjessicabakednext

Twitter: @jessbakednext

Pinterest: @jessbakednext

Published by What Jessica Baked Next

Trained chef, food blogger and travel lover behind What Jessica Baked Next sharing recipes perfect for every occasion.

87 thoughts on “Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting”

  2. These are so cute! I have made banana muffins that look a bit like these cupcakes, might try them with cream cheese frosting next time. 🙂 I agree that they are better than banana bread.

    Reply

  4. Of course if a dessert has fruit in it it has to be healthy!! At least that’s what I tell myself. These look awesome, I’ve never made banana cupcakes before and these look moist and delicious! Definitely have to try them. Pinned 🙂

    Reply

  6. So we may have had some leftover banana muffins a couple of weeks ago, and I may have added some leftover cream cheese frosting on one of them. I love this combination, Jess! I’ve never thought about baking straight-up banana cupcakes. These are definitely going on the to-bake list next time I have some ripe bananas laying around! And that cream cheese frosting is the perfect partner!

    Reply

  7. Yes! I always have leftover bananas in the freezer and can never think of worthwhile recipes to try. This one sounds like it would be amazing. Plus, it’s another excuse to eat cream cheese frosting!!

    Reply

  10. What could be better than some delicious banana cupcakes with rich cream cheese frosting? Let me guess…Or, got it! Only banana cupcakes with rich cream cheese frosting and some chocolate on the top:) Scrumptious guys!

    Reply

  12. Hey Jessica, these look amazing. Nothing gets me more excited than bananas in baked goods. It’s the only way I like to eat bananas. 🙂 I can’t wait to try these! I love the addition of the chocolate chips. And you can never go wrong with cream cheese frosting!

    Reply

  26. Gorgeous work, Jessica! Your swirl is a dream… I’m with ya, I’ll take cupcakes over banana bread any day. What’s so mouthwatering about these is the sour cream you’ve included in the cake! I’ll take it!

    Reply

  27. These are gorgeous Jess! Never had banana cupcakes (wonder why?) ! Pinned to make them! Love the swirl 🙂

    Reply

  31. I’m usually not a fan of banana cake but I think I would enjoy it in cupcake mouthfuls. I like the idea of cream cheese frosting. It all sounds delicious.

    Reply
  33. Pingback: Nutella Cupcakes | What Jessica Baked Next...
  34. Pingback: May Bake Day: Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting | Etcetera

  36. Hi Jessica,

    I have to bake for my childrens kindergarten summer party tomorrow. My 7 year old requested banana cake, OK a good suggestion, but I wanted to make something a bit more special than the usual banana loaf cake that I regularly bake. I found your recipe and pictures of these banana cupcakes, now they look great, and perfect for the kindergarten party. I´ll take some pics and let you know how mine go. off to get ingredients now. Thanks for making such a lovely blog

    Victoria

    Reply
  39. Pingback: Banana cupcakes with cream cheese icing | dessertaddictsanonymous

  40. These cupcakes are AWESOME! I would definitely make these again! And the cream cheese frosting can be used with other cake/cupcake recipes, too! Thank you!😀

    Reply

  42. How long do these cupcakes take to make. I need a fruit dish for school to be cooked and prepared with 45 mins. Any ideas for me

    Reply

    1. Hi Katelyn, thanks for stopping by my blog. These banana cupcakes might possibly take longer than 45 minutes to make and cool before you can decorate them with the frosting, so if you haven’t got much time they’d probably be better to make on another occasion. However, if you wanted to bake just the cupcakes without decorating with the frosting then they probably would be ready within three quarters of an hour. Thinking of other ideas, baking a fruit crumble/crisp would be a great option – I haven’t got to round to sharing a recipe for that yet but I’d be more than happy to send you a recipe via email if you want? Hope that helps! 🙂

      Reply

  43. Thanks for the reply. I think i might try these at the weekend and time them to see. They look amazing. So excited to taste

    Reply

  44. Hi Jessica,

    I made this banana cupcake recipe with the cream cheese frosting, however, the cream cheese frosting turned out as liquid. I followed the recipe to the letter and it still came out like liquid, not thick and creamy at all. I’m in the UK btw, are your measurements correct for the frosting as the measurements seem odd with just 60g of butter but a big 200g of icing sugar and 400g of cream cheese. Am I doing something wrong? Please help.
    The banana cupcakes turned out amazing btw! 🙂 xxxxxxx

    Reply

    1. Hi Yuko, thanks for stopping by my blog, I’m glad the banana cupcakes were a hit! 🙂
      Cream cheese frosting can be quite unpredictable, however I’ve never had any problems when making this recipe and I can assure you the measurements are all correct.
      I can only think the reason your frosting came out runny in consistency was due to over beating. Though in my recipe method I say to beat the frosting for 2-3 minutes it might not take as long as that and that is just a idea of how long it took for mine to thicken. I hope this hasn’t put you off trying the cream cheese frosting recipe again, let me know if you have any further questions.

      Reply

  45. I made these exactly as written except I substituted gluten free flour blend for the equal amount of flour. They turned out great! Husband was happy because he misses these kinds of things after having gone gluten free.

    Reply

  46. Another one of your wonderful recipes for me to make and add to my collection. I use many of your cupcake recipes which are a big hit with my colleagues when I take cupcakes into work for ‘cupcake Wednesday’. Keep them coming and thank you

    Reply

  47. This banana cupcakes were really moist , delicious and very tender. However, i made the mistake of chucking in the whole lot of mashed bananas into the mixture. The cake mixture curdled but its texture improved when I folded in the flour. Next time, I will fold in flour n bananas alternately to prevent curdling. I also added 1 tsp of baking powder,.

    Reply

  48. These were amazing! I substituted the flour for an all purpose GF and added extra baking soda. Worked out amazing!! The cream cheese frosting was a huge hit and I had to make extra!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to JuliaCancel reply